The Debris: Upper Ruins of Kotesh (Koskatep Level 1)
by Francesco Defferrari and Giampaolo Agosta from Threshold Magazine issue 2
Introduction
Koskatep, the mega-dungeon featured in Threshold Issue #1, sits atop a lonely hilltop along the upper course of Achelos river. It has been occupied by various forces throughout the eons, even before the Great Rain of Fire, and is still an active ruin even in modern times."
The first level of Koskatep, the Mountain of Bones, lies on top of the hill itself. It is partially exposed, and is composed of the upper remains of an abandoned Ogre city, Kotesh, which has been inhabited by bandits and Traladaran freedom fighters in past centuries. The Debris have little treasure, except for the weapons and possessions of the ogres and the giants that dwell here.
Sidebar: Secrets of the Upper Ruins
In a forgotten and closed room there is still the tomb of a Traladaran knight who died in 900 AC fighting the Thyatians, with his magical armor and sword.
After the Darkers take control, many ogres and hill giants live here (at least more than 20), well paid by the Darkers to keep intruders away. These folks are organized and finely equipped so trying to avoid them rather than fight them all would be much wiser.
The texts evidenced in green are expansions of the history of the ruins and optional adventure seeds.
The texts evidenced in purple refer to the times after the Darkers took control of the ruins.
History
The upper level of Koskatep is a stratification over the ruins of the ogre city of Kotesh, built mostly by ogres and hill giants from 227 AC to the present (1000 AC) and also occupied by followers of Nyx and Ixion for short times. The ogres indeed tried several times to rebuild Kotesh, but The Last One, a very powerful and ancient vampire living deep in level Seven, was the true master of the ruins in the last seven centuries. He didn’t want to manifest his presence to the outside world, so he never settled nor sent his minions to the upper level, but he eventually destroyed any long term occupants of the Upper Ruins when they tried to descend in the levels below. Remains of these past massacres and battle should dot the ruins.
From 227 to 313 AC, after The Last One killed the priests of Ixion and provoked a landslide to bury Kotesh and its acropolis turned into temple (see Level Two), the ruins were completely abandoned and avoided by all for several years.
From 313 to 396 AC A powerful gnoll leader, and later his successors, built a settlement called G’kurash (see keys from 38 to 47). The Last One controlled them easily, but they became greedy and raided the humans of Achelos too many times.
From 396 to 425 AC Troops of the Kingdom of Achelos conquered the ruins and built several fortifications over the gnoll settlement and to the right of it. Eventually the troops were mysteriously murdered overnight (by The Last One’s minions) and no one ever discovered how.
From 425 to 445 AC A tribe of Orcs infected by vampirism and lycanthropy, the Mokrg, occupied the ruins, even if Achelos’ troops tried several times to defeat them.
In 445 AC the troops of Achelos conquered, burned, salted and buried the place, sending periodically adventurers and soldiers to maintain the place clear of monster occupancy. The situation remained more or less the same until 699 AC, and Koskatep gained the reputation of one of the most cursed ruins in the west. During this period, secretly, human adventurers sent both by the Church of Ixion and the Church of Nyx tried several time to defeat The Last One, but all failed.
From 699 to 725 AC for several turbulent years Orcs, Humans, Ogres and Giants tried in turn to claim the place, each people lasting only for some seasons. Yet the structures in the eastern part were significantly expanded and those in the western part reinforced.
From 725 to 788 AC Ogres and giants prevailed at last, made peace with the Kingdom of Achelos and began to build a lasting city, until a massive undeads attack destroyed the city.
From 788 to 800 AC the ruins were infested with powerful undeads despite several attempts to dislodge them by ogres and humans.
From 800 to 818 AC Lord Vudar, a cleric of Nyx, guided a massive Darkers expedition to the ruins, slaying all the undeads and occupying them with human and ogre soldiers. They built several structures in the eastern part but were eventually destroyed by The Last One.
From 818 to 856 AC A black cloud lingered over the ruins for years, sheltering followers of Thanatos from several people and nations. Eventually an alliance of ogres and giants, including even some dragons, destroyed the cloud and killed its occupants.
From 856 to 892 AC Koskatep changed hands several times, from ogres and giants to orcs to humans, to orcs and gnolls, to ogres, to humans, to undeads.
From 892 to 900 AC Troops of the Kingdom of Achelos and priests of Ixion establish a stronghold over the ruins, but leave the place in the turbulent times of the thyatian invasion.
From 900 to 912 AC The ruins are the occasional hideout of traladaran rebels, ogres and giants. Thyatians search the area in vain to locate the place.
In 912 AC Traladaran freedom fighters used the ruins as their main base against Thyatians for almost a year.. eventually a Thyatian punitive expedition massacred them, but they left the ruins shortly after, considering them too far from civilized areas and creepy.
From 913 to 934 AC Thyatian explorers and soldiers stop frequently to camp in the ruins, as do traladaran rebels, orc raiders and ogres and giants shepherds. Sometimes they are killed by The Last One’s minions, sometimes they fight among themselves and are recruited by Him post mortem.
From 934 to 944 AC Priests of Ixion from Thyatis occupy the ruins and enter the level below down to the sixth, but are stopped by the resistance of The Last One
From 944 to 955 AC The Kul-nook Orcs, followers of Thanatos, slay the priests and build a settlement in the ruins but are eventually exterminated by ogres and giants.
From 955 to 971 AC The Cruth Ogres and Giants returned in force, but again their town was destroyed by The Last One with a huge poisonous cloud.
From 971 to 994 AC the ruins were apparently unoccupied. Some groups of adventurers died exploring them, others make out alive to spread the tale of “the cursed mountain of bones”.
From 995 AC The Cruth Ogres began to return to the area and established contacts with the Church of Nyx. The Darkers soon learned of The Last One persistence and began to make plans to defeat him.
In 998 AC (or at a later date, if a DM desires so) the Darkers, followers of Nyx, should take control of the ruins in force, momentarily defeating the Last One and installing in this level well equipped ogres and hill giants guards, as explained above.
Inhabitants
The ruins have been recently used as a shelter by small bands of ogres and hill giants. These folks may or may not be hostile, depending on the PCs’ actions. In any case, they are aware that the dungeon is very deep, but their knowledge about specific areas spans only the first two levels.
After the Darkers take over Koskatep, they control this level through their Ogre mercenaries. Before that time, the level is not controlled by a single force, although the Last One maintains a surveillance through his minions. The vampire lord will take action against any force trying to take control of the level, by sending a party of his vampire spawn (which can be generated as a standard NPC party, except that all members have been turned into Vampires).
Key to the Upper Ruins
1 The Great Temple. Originally built by ogres and dedicated to Hel, it was later occupied by the Darkers, by followers of Ixion, by giants, by Traladarans, and every time rededicated to another immortal… it’s ruined and abandoned since many years, but recently, just for fun, the Last One placed in the middle of it a creepy statue of his patron Thanatos. Attempts to destroy the statue will result in activating several, regenerating, deadly magical traps quite hard to spot and disarm (requiring a thief and a wizard working together). Old blood sprays around the base of the statue should give PCs a clue.
The area is otherwise empty, although followers of the Last One occasionally meet here (1 in 6 chance every night, select two random followers from the Followers of the Last One table).
In the upper corner of the left wall there are still some half deleted ancient wall paintings showing several undecipherable figures and the image of a burning city, a reference to the ancient inner temple of Ixion buried at the bottom of the ruins. Clerics or followers of Ixion seeing this will have a vision about the necessity of protecting the temple from the Darkers and the Last One.
Just a few days after the Darkers take control of the ruins, they will destroy the statue of Thanatos (succeeding in disarming the traps) and will substitute it with a statue of Nyx after two months. The temple will be then repaired and slowly repainted, and almost always occupied by 1d4 low level clerics of Nyx. It will be no longer used by the followers of The Last One. If PCs kill the clerics, that will trigger an alarm bringing a lot of ogres from area 9 and causing 2d4+2 followers of Nyx coming after the PC’s from the levels below.
2 The War Court. This area was used as marching grounds by the army of some now-forgotten warlord. Digging here, explorers can find spear blades, arrow points, broken and rusty armor pieces. Goblinoids sometimes scavenge weapon or armor parts as well, so there is a 10% chance of a random encounter from the Humanoid scouting parties table.
Lord Vudar was a Darker that tried to reclaim Koskatep around 800 AC, with the aids of ogres and giants. He was eventually captured by The Last One, but his silver medallion of Nyx could still be found in this area. Any Darker or member of the church of Nyx would be very interested in the object. Also the magical armor and scythe of Vudar are hidden in level 7, along with his diary. As he was a distant cousin of Lord Sulescu, he too would be very interested in these objects. PC’s could be sent to Koskatep by Lord Sulescu himself if he discovered in his castle some clue about the distant ancestor. Sulescu could already be or become an ally of the Darkers if the DM wishes so.
Eventually the Darkers will know the story and will rebuild this area as a war court with a statue of Lord Vudar, but it could take years for them to be able to complete it.
3 The Market: this open area was once a market from 955 to 971 AC. Digging here reveals shards of pottery and other household items, some of them giant-sized (generally useless, although a giant-sized spoon might be used as a mace in a pinch).
Here the ogres are building pens to hold a variety of big chickens they are breeding. By night this will drawn to the area a couple of giant ferrets, not very aggressive but a probable source of noise if startled.
4 The “new town”: This area was occupied by many huts and cottages from 955 to 971 AC, a poorer district of the town. Most of the area has been cleaned out by the Ogres recently. During the day, it is easy to meet 1d4 Ogres at any time (30% chance, increase by 15% for every turn spent in the area).
Both the market and the huts were built after 955 AC, date of the last attempt by the Cruth Ogres to rebuild Kotesh permanently. The ogres were exterminated by The Last One in 971 AC and have returned in relative force to the ruins only from 995 AC. The Last One has occasionally sent his minions to harass them just to discourage more permanent settlements..
The number of ogres living and working here will increase to 2d4 one or two months after the Darkers take control of the ruins.
5 The Pigpen: This walled area has been repaired, and is used as a pen to hold pigs raised by the Ogres -- as large beings, the Ogres need substantial amounts of food, which they obtain mostly from livestock. The pigs are numerous, semi-wild, and rather aggressive against anyone not Ogre-sized (treat as boars). Entering the area or releasing the pigs can be deadly for unprepared adventurers.
This building of stone slabs was built by a short living gnoll chief in 881 AC over a previous group of houses. In a corner of the building there is still the buried, carved knife+1 once belonging to him. That’s the anchor that The Last One sometimes uses to call his ghost (as wight, hd3) and scare the pigs.
After the Darkers take control it’s just a matter of time before either they banish forever what’s left of the ghost or the Last One uses him as a distraction during an attack against them.
6 The Old Tower. This building is empty, and too small to be comfortable for an Ogre. It is sometimes used by followers of Thanatos who come to visit the city and its less reputable dwellers. Symbols of Thanatos are etched over the walls, serving as a threat against those who would trespass. At night, there is a 25% chance of an encounter from the Followers of the Last One table.
This building was part of a destroyed fortification, built by the Knights of Achelos in 892 AC. A secret compartment very difficult to spot at the lower base of the north wall hides a prayer book of a long deceased cleric of Ixion. The church, historians and the descendants of the cleric would pay an high sum for the book.
Some times after their takeover the Darkers will repair and bolt the building as part of their renovation work, and it will not be used anymore by Followers of the Last One.
7 The Well House. The shack is large but mostly empty, except for the well itself, a long, rough hemp rope, and two large buckets. There is a 10% chance of encountering a single Ogre (Ogre NM, C) at any time.
The well is so ancient is was built by gnolls in 314 AC and used by all the occupants of the ruins ever since. No one knows this, but the well is connected to the lower level through a convoluted and mostly submerged network of small tunnels that eventually lead down to level Six and to a community of Nixies allied of the Dark Fairies of that level. Other tunnels lead also to passage to the elemental plane of water.
Eventually the Darkers will discover the existence of the passage and will try to contact the nixies.
8 The Guard Post. This building has been recently repaired and reinforced with makeshift fortifications (equivalent to a timber fort). Three Ogres (one of which is an Ogre 1) keep watch at all times here, ready to repel raiders and adventurers alike. Also, they can easily call for reinforcements from area 9.
This tower, several times repaired and rebuilt, is at least three hundred years old, but not much is left of its history except for many different graffitis and drawings left here by bored guards of at least six different races and cultures.
After the Darkers take control the guards will increase to four Ogres and a Hill Giant.
9 The Ogre town. This group of tall buildings have been cobbled together in recent times by the Ogres who took over the Debris. After the Darkers arrive, they provide better engineering skills to improve the structural soundness of the buildings. In any case, more than 20 male Ogres live here, including a chief, Golbag (Ogre 5, C).
There are also 5-8 (1d4+4) female ogres and children living here, not permanently as the ruins are still deemed dangerous. They are however well capable of fighting back. There is also a 50% chance that 1d4+2 male or female Hill Giants are there too.
As here was the centre of the last upper city in several historical periods from 700 AC onwards, the Ogres have found several relics of the past, as jewels, weapons and armors belonged to different past ogres, giants, orcs, gnolls, humans leaders and warlords, things that could have a great value in the right places.
After the Darkers arrive the number of hill giants is doubled and they have a chief, Trosh (Hill Giant 6, C), while female and children have mostly been moved to level 2. With the passing of months, at the DM’s discretion, the population of ogres and giants in the ruins will increase and extensive reparations will be under way.
10 Sheep Pen. This area is used as a pen for holding sheep during the night. Two large dogs (treat as grey wolves) and an Ogre sentry (Ogre NM) keep watch at night. During the day, the area is empty.
Now all its covered by a meter of earth, but here in 788 AC many ogres and giants, warriors, females and children were massacred by the undeads of The Last One. Being a bit of an hoarder, he buried their remains here, as you never know what can be useful in the future, and a hundred ogre and giant zombies could always make a good night of the living dead.
As the Darkers are not stupid, they will eventually discover the mass grave and clean it, the question is if they will manage to do it before the Last One awakes the zombies.
11 The Armory. This room includes a relatively well preserved passage beneath the inner walls, which gives access to the lower levels. The ogres know it but so far they have visited only a few times the level beneath, the ancient ogre city of Kotesh, and still have to decide if they are ready to clear and reclaim it. The door to this area is bolted as several critters tended to come out during the night from below.
The Ogres have given its name to the room as they have found rusted remains of weapons here, and indeed the room was an armory in several periods from 700 AC. Unknown to them, several well preserved weapons, one magical, have been packaged and buried here by traladaran freedom fighters in 912 AC.
When the Darkers take over the level below is less dangerous but the room is still closed and guarded by Ogre mercenaries (4 Ogres, NM, C) Another passage can be found in area 44, although the Ogres and the Darkers are not aware of this.
12 Watchtower. This was an ogre-sized watchtower, several times reused as a granary or depot by other humanoids or humans. Before the Darker arrive, there is only a 10% chance that a random humanoid party (roll on the Humanoid scouting parties table) will be found here.
Here the traladaran freedom fighters made their last stand against the thyatians in 912 AC, here the Kingdom of Achelos fell forever. The King, his knight and the rebels appear here and cry silently in the seventh night of Flaurmont, every year. They do not attack and ignore any living presence, but if a priest of Chardastes happens to be here in that night, the King will show him the hiding place of The Banner of Achelos, an artifact that could be a crucial asset for anyone wishing to resurrect the ancient kingdom.
Given its high position, the Darkers will restore it to its use as a sentry point, while in other times it might be used as shelter by roving humanoids, thanks to its defensible position. Thus, After the Darker take control of the area, mercenary warriors (3 Orc 2, N and 3 Human F3, N) will be stationed here.
13 The Debris. Among the scattered ruins here there is a passage to area 17. A party of human-sized or smaller humanoids could navigate the passage to enter or exit the inner city without scaling the wall or confronting the guards at the entrance.
What apparently seems just a rock it’s revealed to be, upon closer examination, the body of an ogre female hugging a child, both killed by the poisonous, volcanic cloud The Last One sent in 971 AC. Magdub, shaman of Terra and informal ruler of the Cruth hills ogres, would be able to recognize the medallion she has in her hands, and she is her mother hugging his little brother, whose bodies were never found. PCs leading Magdub to this discovery would earn his eternal friendship and gratitude.
Some months after the arrival of the Darkers the wall will be repaired and the passage closed. Magdub will never come to live here, as the place has too many sad memories for him, but he’ll visit sometimes with many ogres. Clever PC’s could notice a medallion with a tree around his neck, very similar in shape and design to the one of the dead female ogre.
14 The Tomb of Ivan. This building, thanks to its position near the wall, has survived time better than others. It was originally the tomb of a Traladaran knight, Ivan Dobrovic, buried in 910 AC. Three Thyatian soldiers attempted to breach and plunder the tomb. One of them was wounded by a spear trap while entering the area, while the other two pressed on only to be faced with the outraged ghost of the Traladaran knight (Lesser Banshee, Int 11, L). The legionnaires fell to the knight’s deadly wail. Their superior officers considered them to have deserted, as their companion never told the truth (he would have been punished for acting without leave if he had). The ghost is intelligent, and can be communicated with (this requires using Speak with Dead magic, though). It is aware of a great evil in the deeper levels, but cannot pinpoint its precise nature.
Three months after the Darkers take control of the ruins, they establish friendly contact with Ivan’s ghost, who will pass on to them information he gathers from the PCs.
As Ivan is a sort of local hero among traladaran rebels of the west, and he would be willing to join any new rebellion against the Thyatians, he could be a huge asset for such a cause. This storyline could be very important in the campaign as in the past Traladarans of the Achelos kingdom have been sometimes enemies of the Darkers, but now an allegiance would be useful to both to claim the independence of the west from Thyatian rule, and Ivan could be the mean to do exactly that. The Darkers will gain his allegiance by also promising to give him a new body, a proposal he’ll gladly embrace. The body could be a construct, a dead Darker or even a dead PC’s, on DM discretion. A live Darker or a live PC particularly dedicated to the cause of freedom could be willing to share their bodies with Ivan, gaining exceptional powers.
15 The Orcs Town. This area is composed of ruins of tightly packed houses. Most of these buildings had subterranean portions (originally used for storage). Later occupants of the area carved passages between the cellars, creating a veritable warren. Before the Darker come, this area is inhabited by a small Orc clan (20 Orcs NM led by an Orc 3 leader, females and children), since it is difficult to navigate for Ogres. There is an entrance to the lower level through a dried out water tank, although it is difficult to navigate (requires Climb Walls rolls or appropriate skill rolls -- e.g., Mountaineering/Caving, if the characters have climbing equipment). The orcs sometimes hunt for treasures (old coins and weapons) and food (rats and mushrooms) in the lower level.
What no one knows is that beneath the orcs “town” are buried the undead remains of the Kul-nook Orcs, followers of Thanatos that occupied the ruins from 944 to 955 AC and under them of the Mokrg Orcs, even nastier ones who lived here from 425 to 445 AC. Eventually, The Last One plans to awake them all, have them vampirize the modern orcs and send them all against ogres and Darkers.
The Darkers will mostly leave the modern orcs alone, since they are already allied with the Ogres, but will establish contacts and cooperation with them. The orcs, sensing the growing power of the humans-ogres alliance, will be willing to join it.The Darkers will never discover the buried orcs.
16 The Shrine of Ixion. It was built by clerics who occupied the ruins from 934 to 944 AC, over a previous fortification. Frescoes and statues inside were apparently destroyed and rebuilt several times, as it was desecrated by Followers of The Last One, re-dedicated to Ogres and Giants immortals in 955 AC and desecrated again in 971 AC. The Ogres are slowly cleaning it but there is only a 10% change to meet two Ogres working here (NM, C)
Dedicated archaeologists could find several religious memorabilia from the past decades digging here, mostly ceramic figurines or small silver coins that depicts immortals and were offered to them.
A priest of Ixion, a cultist of Thanatos and an ogre shaman of Jammudaru were buried here in different years. Just for fun, The Last One had them digged up and then combined their souls and bodies into one unique, original undead (as Nightwalker hd22) that is now waiting for His call, completely insane, just below the stone floor.
17 The Tunnel. Among the ruins is hidden a passage to area 13. It takes a successful roll to find hidden doors to locate the passage.
The tunnel is very ancient, built to secretly connect the inner to the outer fortifications, by Achelos troops in 400 AC, and used by all the inhabitants of the ruins ever since. In 603 AC a group of adventurers dedicated to Ixion, the Golden Rays, were killed by the Darkers. Their equipment, mostly consecrated to the Sun God and therefore anathema to the Darkers, was buried here and was never discovered. Their killers were also destroyed, by minions of The Last One, in level three.
Some months after their arrival the Darkers will discover and close the passage, and never find the treasure..
18 The Birds Pen. Albog’s tribe, see below, keeps here an incredible variety of domesticated birds, several variants of chickens, ducks, gooses, turkeys, peacocks, pheasants and quails, for eggs and meat. One or two young Ogre boys, (NM-2, C) will be here at any time during the day, and will escape to area 24 to raise the alarm if they spot someone.
The building was once the house of Nera, sister of Lord Vudar, killed here by minions of The Last One in 818 AC. For the same reasons as in area 10, the minions of the Last One buried here also all the knights and the priests who followed. Vudar, and his wife Mila too. Nera and Mila are partially awake in a sort of uncomfortable, dark dream. They are used by the Last One to blackmail Vudar into serving him. Telepathic PC’s could sense their suffering. If the PC’s try to awake and heal the two women they should do with inflict wounds spells of they’ll harm them, as they are nosferatus. Rescuing the two women would result in Vudar being free and grateful to the PC’s to the point that he’ll be willing to save them from the wrath of other Nyx followers, even if they are allied with Ixion, but not arriving to complete betrayal of his cause.
Several months after their takeover the Darkers will discover the grave too, Vudar will be free and if he has not already, it’s also foreseeable that Lord Sulescu will join them at this point.
19-23 The Ogre village. A smaller tribe of 12 Ogres, led by Albog (Ogre 4, C), Golbag’s younger brother, lives in this part of the ruins, with females and children. Albog’s tribe is subservient to the larger tribe led by Golbag, and they resent it. It could be possible to negotiate for Albog’s followers to ignore the PC’s, if the chief is sure he will not be harmed.
These building were built by orcs, ogres and giants from 944 to 971 AC over previous, smaller houses. Later they were occupied by several carrion crawlers and giant worms that killed at least a group of young adventurers. Remains of both the critters and the humans were used by Albog’s ogres to decorate their rooms. Willing PC’s could be able to obtain several personal items of the adventurers to give back to their heirs. In truth, all the items are a dead end and no descendants can be found except for one small silver brooch, with the name Livia inscribed on it. The brooch could be traced to an artisan in the southern village of Gorica, who still remember having sold it to a young warrior. His name was Julius Keonios, his daughter Livia still lives in Gorica, and will be moved to tears seeing the brooch. His father had it made when she was born, to celebrate her birth even if his wife died in childbirth. Years after Livia and her father had serious setbacks at their farm, and he resumed his adventurer life to seek fortune. The rest of his party was composed of Riverfork former soldiers. Livia will not have much to thanks PC’s as she leads a modest life (could be a serving maid, small artisan or even “entertainer”, to DM’s discretion), but will do what she can.
The Darkers will not care about dead adventurers, but eventually they’ll force Albog and his ogres to fully obey Golbag, or else. It’s possible that minions of The Last One will try to use Albog to their advantage.
24 The South Guard Post. This building serves as a guard post for Albog’s tribe. A single guard (Ogre 1, C) mans the post during the day. During the night, the passage is blocked by a makeshift barrier, and two large dogs are chained to a nearby post.
This tower too is ancient and was rebuilt several times but nothing is left except for a almost invisible inscription in a lower slab on the inside. It’s in traladaran and says “Behind S mound, take Layla Riv”. It was left by Ilos, a mortally wounded adventurer in 975AC. He and his group had buried a treasure of 167 Achelos gold coins they found in the central town just behind the southern wall of the mound marked as 29. Layla was his girlfriend an in his last moments he hoped someone could find his message and bring her the treasure. Riv stands for Riverfork but Layla, of ylari origin, no longer live there. Some older people of the keep could remember she left for Ylauruam around 978 AC, after waiting 3 years in vain for Ilos’ return. Some remember also she had a child, but no one knows if he was from Ilios. Dedicated PC’s who choose to follow this trail could found her or the grown up child still alive in Ylauruam.
After the Darkers takeover, the guards will be three, day and night.
25 The Mound. Once the tomb of powerful chiefs, firstly a gnoll, then a orc, later a ogre, the mound was occupied by a Ochre Jelly in the last decade. The creature ate everything inside the mound, some humanoids, some humans and several animals. The ogres recently started to use it as a garbage disposal system, so they constructed the wall connecting the mound to their houses.
Inside the creature, should PC’s kill it, a lot of things could be found, mostly old weapons and armors, as anything softer than metal has already be completely absorbed by the thing, and even the non magical metal is deeply damaged. The DM however could allow PC’s to find some magical weapon belonged to an ancient chief. For example an orc chief of several centuries ago had an intelligent, cursed sword that slowly led him to complete paranoia.
The Darkers will leave the creature alone.
26-27 The Round Village. This isolated building is partially dug into an outcropping near the main hill. It was originally part of a craftsmen neighborhood, but is now occupied by Hort-mool, a lone goblinoid shaman of Thanatos (Goblin 8/Shaman 6, C). The shaman is subservient to the Last One, but is otherwise not aggressive -- he knows he alone is outmatched. He is also quite careful in hiding his true allegiance, although he has Thanatos holy symbols tattooed all over his chest and waist, which he keeps covered at all times. He is the main spy of the Last One in the upper level and in telepathic contact with him, but he pretends to be a lone harmless herbalist and has given free potions to the ogres over the years to gain their trust, so they let him be. If the PC’s come as enemies of the Darkers he could offer to accompany them, only to betray them to the Last One later. PC’s could expose him only if they see the tattoos or if they are stealthy enough to catch him walking to area 1 to meet other Followers of the Last One (see table).
This area was built from 802 AC onwards and occupied by ogres, giants, humans and undeads in different times. There are still many broken and burned walls. Hort-mool has buried a veritable treasure of objects, scrolls, potions, weapons he took from the remains of ogres and giants house and from adventurers he killed and hid all in a small concealed room in area 26.
The Darkers will not immediately suspect Hort-mool and will leave him alone, but PC’s allied with them could receive the task of investigating him from one of them in the level below.
28 The Azure Mound. This stone building was painted with now almost faded azure decorations. It has no door to enter. Once the tomb of a giant chief, his bones are now scattered near to the north wall along with his old rusty armor (but still valuable). The tomb was indeed re-used in 993 AC by a group of Darokinian adventurers that buried here their fallen comrade. The ogres have not open it.
Lunio Caerwyn, a 5 lvl thief, is awake inside the tomb, as The Last One raised him ghoul retaining his intelligence and memories. Lunio “lived” the last lonely dark years between desperation, paranoia, horrible dreams and an unclear sense of time, the ways of The Last One to torture him. If the tomb is open, he’ll act as trapped for only a few days, will thank his rescuers and express the desire to return to his hometown of Dolos. The PC’s will however realize immediately that he is undead and has gone a bit mad. Outside the tomb, besides, Lunio will start craving for human flesh in a few hours. To choose how to deal with him could be particularly hard, as Lunio has a family and a girlfriend he loves, and do not want to die. Generous PC’s could find a high level cleric able to resurrect him as a normal human being, but if he returns to Dolos he’ll sadly find out that his former companions are gone, his mother is dead and his girlfriend his married to another man. He will be able to find his sister and father however and will be grateful to the PC’s anyway.
After some months the Darkers will find Lunio too, but will not resurrect him, they’ll rather convince him to embrace his new, better, condition of undeath but will aid him to overcome the craving for human flesh. Lunio will become a full time Darker agent in less than a year.
29 The Yellow Mound. This building is called so for some yellow bricks in the middle of the wall. It’s closed too, and has no door. It’s the tomb of Valush, a hill giant warrior that died saving his community from vampires (i.e. minions of The Last One) in 965 AC. His body and weapons are still inside, with many objects and small treasures he owned. Inside the sepulchre, he was staked to prevent him from returning as a vampire. Should anyone remove the stake, he will awake. He will be wary of humans but not automatically hostile, yet he will be soon aware of his condition and will know he could not return to his people, as they would refuse him, and anyway his loved one will be dead or quite old by now. He will finally ask the PCs to kill him, or force them to do so by attacking (even if he will be careful not to kill them).
Just behind the southern wall of this mound there is also the buried treasure of Ilos as described in area 24.
The Darkers will eventually find Valush and will be able to turn him away from suicidal intentions by convincing him to embrace his new conditions, by showing him that there are giants willing to accept him in their society.
30 The Stone Tomb. This little building made of stone blocks preserve what’s left of a ogre child, a female named Kijtra (her name is inscribed with ogres letters in the front stone), her few toys and a little knife. She was killed by minions of The Last One and buried here in 783 AC and her resting place strangely remains undisturbed. Ogres leave flowers and berries in front of the tomb, as they consider it a sacred place.
The tomb has survived undisturbed for so long as it’s protected by Shakrta, the mother of the child, who committed suicide in front of it and has remained here ever since “to protect her from the monsters”. The Last One has indeed tried several time to reanimate the child and bind Shakrta herself, but he always failed as the hate the ogre mother has for him is too great. Some nights, Shakrta could be seen crying near to the tomb. She will not harm PC’s, unless they will try to break into the tomb. Shakrta is a very powerful ghost. She will not speak, either, but will tell her story if PC’s insist, and will warn them of the Great Evil brooding in level 7. She will not be able to aid them as she is bound to the tomb.
The Darker eventually will discover Shakrta and, by moving with her permission the tomb of Kijtra to a guarded location in area 45, will be able to obtain her help to destroy The Last One. She will be indeed the one telling them that He is still alive, hidden in level 10, after their takeover, as her hate is so great that his magic cannot hide his presence from her. Once The Last One is destroyed Shakrta will be, at last, ready to leave this world, but before that she will ask to transform the tomb of Kijtra into a sanctuary.
31 The Ruined House. A large house, maybe once belonging to a ogre chief or a merchant, this building was last used in 935 AC by warriors and priests of Ixion, but the Kul-nook Orcs massacred and ate them, then left their bones scattered all over the place. Ogres and giants never repaired the house as they considered it cursed.
The reason why the house has been abandoned in the last decades is that sometimes a Vision appear of 2d4 warriors and priests of Ixion, who attack anyone not leaving in a few moments. Should the Vision encounter PC’s of their same faith, or working for the church of Ixion, they will be able to grant several aids: 1 Restore spell, 1 Cureall, 1 Raise Dead, 1 Truesight, 1 Dispel evil, 1 Cure serious wounds, 1 Remove curse, 1 Bless, 1 Protection from evil. Once exhausted their spells, the Vision will dispel forever.
Eventually the Darkers will encounter the Vision and, after an initial setback, will destroy it once and for all.
32 The Little Fortress. This group of room was a small fortress built by Achelos’ troops from 396 to 425 AC, later destroyed (only two small barely visible old coat of arms remain engraved on the walls), rebuilt for the last time by ogres in 955 AC and still standing. The ogres are not currently using it.
Buried 1 meter under these rooms there is the mass grave of the soldiers of the Kingdom of Achelos massacred in 425 AC by minions of The Last One. Their remains are quite hard to find but very interesting historically as they have weapons, clothes, coins and other small objects of the time. Minions of the Last One could reanimate them as skeletons if necessary.
The Darkers in some months will start using this building as a warehouse for the ongoing reparations of the town, and eventually will expand it to create barracks for human warriors. Probably they’ll never found the mass grave, if they do, they’ll simply let the remains rest.
33 The Old Battle. This area has particularly ruined buildings, signs of magical explosions, battered walls and a lot of scattered bones and old stains of blood. A central area near to the door of the inner town, this place was a battlefield several time in the last centuries. Useful weapons however have been already pillaged by the orcs, and scavenger animals have left only some old bone.
As the upper town have been conquered and pillaged several times by many armies, in this area there are small caches of valuables, mostly old coins, that doomed people buried through the centuries before escaping, but were killed before retrieving them. All these valuables are cursed, and anyone finding and spending them will be persecuted by a string of small and big misfortunes.
It will take time, but eventually the Darkers will clean this place too, will find the valuables, remove the curses and spend them to finance their rebuilding project and their cause.
34 The new Temple. It was built by the Traladarans in 893 AC, and dedicated to Zirchev. It has been abandoned for years, but Zirchev’s protection still hangs over it in some way (a devotee of Zirchev can receive the effects of a Bless spell, the first time he prays here). Clever PCs could notice that strangely the minions of The Last One have not desecrated this temple.
The reason why is that under the temple an old werebear is buried. His name is Gann, he was a cleric of Zirchev, and the Last One killed him in 425 AC along with the Achelos soldiers of area 32. There was in fact a much more ancient temple of Zirchev before the modern one. Gann is now a vampire werebear, but he has stubbornly resisted for centuries the attempts done by The Last One to control and use him, with the help of his patron. Zirchev has tried several times to lead adventurers to aid Gann, but so far all were killed. PC’s sympathetic to Zirchev’s faith could gain the aid of Gann.
The Darkers will not find immediately the hidden tomb, but when they do they could be able to struck a deal with Gann, granting freedom to the church of Zirchev in the new kingdom they wish to found.
35 The Smithy. The cyclopean walls of this building protect the smithy. This laboratory is a mix of craftsman shop and edge wizard’s den. Urgal (Ogre 4/Wicca 1, C) monopolizes the knowledge of iron working in the village, and jealously protect his trade secrets. This means few Ogres except Urgal’s assistants (two Ogre 1, chosen for their immense strength and equally immense stupidity) venture here, for fear of being deemed as spies by the smith. On the other hand, any attack on Urgal would raise the ires of the tribe -- without their prized smith, they would have to pay high prices to the Blackstone Orcs for iron items rather than pay just for the raw ore.
This building was used for the same purposes for centuries. Urgal found several ancient steel objects and weapons and has them hidden in a secret compartment, as he consider them his treasure.
The Darkers will be happy to leave Urgal at his work, they’ll even supply him with more ore.
36 The Shaman’s Hut. Rolbur (Ogre 5/Shaman 3, C), an Ogre Shaman of Jammudaru, lives in this hut with three apprentices (all three are Ogre 2/Shaman 1, C).
This was part of a larger building in the past, of which nothing is left, but there is a buried gem necklace somewhere, once belonging to a traladaran woman around 897 AC, with remarkable historical value.
The Darkers will tolerate Rolbur for the time being, even if he doesn’t belong to their faith. They will eventually demand however an oath of allegiance from him and his patron. That could lead or not to a conflict between the Darkers and some ogres, to the DM’s discretion.
37 The Market. This area is used by the Ogre tribes as a market and forum. Golbag sometimes harangues his followers from the roof of the building in area 12. During the day, 1d6+2 Ogres and 1d4 Hill Giants can be found here on their own business, and there is a 50% chance of an encounter at night (1d4 Ogres).
As these was an area of artisans’shops for humans, orcs and ogres in centuries past, small trinkets can often be found in this area: ceramics, leather objects, tools, toys and many other common things, some quite interesting and particular.
After the Darkers take over this area will be even more busy and 1d4 humans could be found here too during the day. Slowly, a sort of store with a wood roof will be built, selling almost everything from herbs and food to saddles and mules.
From 38 to 47. The Necropolis.
A gnoll settlement from 313 to 396 AC, this area became a necropolis
attached to the new Ogre city of 725-788 AC and successive periods.
Partially ruined by time, it’s still inhabited by Jomulg,
an undead Ogre shaman
(mummy, +2 damage due to large size, casts spells as level 7 shaman),
buried here in 787 AC and since then become the stubborn defender of
the place. He is able to animates some old but armed human skeletons,
long dead mercenaries and soldiers of the dissolved kingdom of
Achelos (room 38)
for protection.
From 995 onwards the Ogres have begun to use the
necropolis again, under the strict vigilance of Jomulg, who usually
rest with his full grave goods in room 40.
Room 41 has become instead the meager home of Vraag (Ogre 2), an ogre undertaker who was assigned to this job for theft punishment. He hates it, is scared to death by Jomulg and keeps whining about his life. He will offer to join any PCs group just to escape the place. He knows almost everything about this level. .
The Last One sent minions to destroy Jomulg several times, but they all failed. He could have done it himself, but he didn’t because the undead ogre was useful to keep random intruders away. If he ever decide to attack the Darkers however he’ll send G’kur (see below) to kill him.
After the arrival of the Darkers Jomulg is much more active here, working with a cleric of Nyx to animate as intelligent undead several ogres and giants buried here.
39 The Hidden Tomb. Hidden inside what appear to be a full, solid wall there is the ancient tomb of G’kur, gnoll leader from 313 to 337 AC, cleric of Thanatos and dormant vampire that The Last One has left here for future use (Vampire, casts spells as 9th level cleric). The tomb contains armor, weapons and riches. G’kur will rise and be quite unhappy if his tomb is opened, but succeeding in discovering it should be really hard. If it happens at night, The Last One could even send one of his minions (See Followers of The Last One encounter table) to aid him.
Some gnoll warriors are also buried around, with weapons and armors. Their tombs are not visible from the surface, but G’kur will animate them if he needs help.
It will take time for the Darkers to discover the tomb, so much time that it’s quite probable that G’kur will be sent by The Last One against them. Should his master be destroyed with him surviving G’kur will finally leave his tomb and the area altogether, searching for a gnoll tribe to subjugate and lead in conquest.
42-45 The Tombs of Giants. The big central area of the necropolis contains several tombs of ogres and hill giants, some from centuries ago, some just of one or two years ago. All of them are usually large slabs of stone and often contains simple silver or copper jewels, weapons and armors.
Everywhere on the floor there are also the remains of many human soldiers and adventurers that Jomulg killed when he surprised them searching the necropolis. He will animate them as skeletons if necessary.
The more recent remains are just some years old, like a group of young sheared Karameikans, three boys and two girls, who came from Luln. They can be identified by several personal items. Their parents, and even Lady Sasha herself, never stopped to look for them and would be happy to receive news of their sad fate.
The Darkers will not disturb the tombs and eventually they will also clean the human remains lying around.
44 The Great Tomb, This area contains a well preserved, megalithic building which gives access to an underground hall, which holds the tomb of a Hill Giant chieftain. The tomb itself is a large pit in the ground, covered with slabs of stones. The mummified corpse of the Hill Giant chieftain lies in the tomb, wrapped in crumbling, dessicated sheets of cured leather. Beneath the corpse lies a last stone slab, which covers a set of stairs which plunge into the depths of earth, and the lower levels of Koskatep.
It seems the tomb doesn’t contain any treasure, but the truth is that below the corpse there is a lance +1 with the power of keeping vampires away like an holy symbol. If someone tries to use the lance against a giant, it will become so hot to be impossible to hold
The Darkers will eventually discover this tomb too, and the passage, but only after several months after their takeover, maybe even more than a year.
46-47 The Two Towers. Old guard towers of the first gnoll town built on the surface in 313 AC, these buildings have been rebuilt several times and, incredibly, still stand. They have no door anymore, the interior is a collection of dirt and remains, and the wooden stairs once leading to the top are long fallen down. The Giant Vampire Bat (see Followers of the Last One table) sometimes uses them as observation points.
The Darkers will eventually repair the towers and will post one sentinel on each at any time, but the DM could decide when that will be done.
The Battles for Koskatep (sidebar?)
In 998 AC or when the DM thinks it’s better, the Darkers will conquer Koskatep, defeating The Last One and his followers and forcing him to escape Level 7 and hide in Level 10. This battle is a huge event that could involve the PC’s too. The battle will begin on level 1 and will end by the Starlake on level 7, lasting for hours.
The Darkers will attack with a hundred humans, including powerful wizards like Mogren, Anna Exoter, Basco Trius, (see level 7) powerful priests like Lady Sonya (see level 7) Kivid and Ilena (see level 5), around 25 Undecayed (special intelligent undeads, hd2) 10 Uncorporeals (as wights with hd4), and around 70 ogres and hill giants warriors, including Golbag and Trosh (area 9), Albog (area 19), Urgal (35), Rolbur (36), Jomulg and Vraag (40-41) and also Shakrta from area 30 (unbeknown to the Darkers). They’ll win and all the mentioned people will survive the battle.
The Last One will fight back on this level using a Nightwalker (hd20) and a host of human skeletons and zombies, mostly coming from area 32 and other areas of the ruins. All will be destroyed by the Darkers. Hort-mool (area 26) and the gnoll wight of area 5 will fight too, but will be able to hide and survive the lost battle. The Last One will also send against the Darkers at least 3 vampires (former adventurers he slew), two other gnoll wights and the giant vampire bat (see Followers of the Last One table). It’ up to the DM to decide if they will survive the battle or not.
This battle will not be the last one for the control of Koskatep. Approximatively one year after the Darkers take over (of longer if the DM prefers) several things could happen:
- The Darkers will be stronger on level 1 as they’ll probably have obtained the aid of Ivan (Area 14), Nera and Mila (area 18), Lunio (28), Valush (29), Shakrta (30) and maybe even Gann (34).
- The Last One will unleash his revenge: with mummies, vampires and demons he will attack, from level 10, Hel’s beastmen of level 11. If he succeed he’ll then attack the Darkers in level 7. Here on the surface he will call to action the gnoll wight (area 5), the ogre and giant zombies (10), the undead orcs (15), the Monster (16), Hort-mool (26), several human skeletons and G’kur (39). If they win they’ll go below to aid him.
- Before the Last One attack, Quehuar (see level 10) will revolt with the Inti mummies and, if he is successful, that’ll lead to the opening of level 13, with hundreds of Ixion’s followers attacking both The Last One followers and the Darkers, with the intent of destroying them all. On the surface, Ixion’s followers will have the aid of the Vision (area 31) and, depending on PC’s actions, maybe even of Ivan (14) and Gann (34).
- If Hel’s beastmen in level 11 are not conquered by The Last One, they’ll eventually attack level 13. They could form an alliance with the Darkers after that, controlling level 10 to 13 and leaving the upper ones to the Darkers, but in this case some Hel’s followers will surely begin to inhabit the surface too.
- The fairies of levels 6 and 9 will eventually take advantage of one of the battles between Ixion, Nyx, Thanatos and Hel followers to unleash their attack. They could momentarily ally with Ixion’s followers, but they’ll want to use the Starlake for their purposes. If they are very strong, Ixion’s followers could settle on controlling levels 10 to 13 and leave the others to them. On the surface Gann (Area 34) is more likely to ally with them, and maybe even Ivan (Area 14) and the Achelos rebels.
The DM could decide the exact timeline of all these events according to PC’s actions (or inactions).
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Encounter Tables
Followers of the Last One (1d6)
1 - Hort-mool, Goblin Shaman (see Area 26)
2 - Homing Giant Vampire Bat (carries a message tied to one of its claws, written in an obscure, debased Taymoran dialect). The message it’s a letter The Last One sent to one of his allies outside the ruins. It’s up to the DM to decide who the allies may be: clerics of Thanatos that could be tracked down in Karameikos or abroad, important personalities of the Karameikos government that are secretly Thanatos’ followers (or maybe they are not, and the message is just a ploy of The Last One to wrongly implicate them), or even the green dragon Argos of the Dymrak woods.
3 - Vampire (7 HD, this undead was spawned by the Last one and is still bound to his master). He could be a former adventurer killed by the Last One during the last century. He could be now a committed follower of Thanatos or rather a tortured personality trying in vain to escape his bound.
4 - Gnoll ghost (Lesser Banshee). He could have been from one of the numerous gnoll tribes that occupied the ruins in the past. Knows much about several levels down to the seventh, but it’s not really willing to talk about it nor subject to bribes, unless PC’s found a clever way to force him.
5 - A visiting Thanaton (cleric of Thanatos) from Thyatis or Darokin (C7, C). The DM can use this encounter to plant a lead or clue to leading to one of these nations. Like Hort-mool he could not be immediately hostile, rather trying to gain the PC’s trust to study them.
6 - If there is another minion of the Last One during this encounter, he appears to be talking to an invisible person. However, Detect Invisible spells and similar powers do not reveal any presence, as the minion is contacting the Last One telepathically. Trying an ESP on the minion at this time may result in damage to the spellcaster (ST vs Spells to avoid) as he glimpses into the terrible thought processes of the Vampire Lord. Failing the ST causes a -2 penalty to STs against mind attacks, fear, and similar effects for 48 hours, as well as an appropriate reaction (fleeing, freezing or panic). A successful ST allows the spellcaster to break contact before damage is done. If there are no minions of the Last One, the PCs feel observed, sense danger in the form of a shiver to the spine, or experience other uncomfortable sensations for but a moment.
After the Darkers takeover some of the followers of The Last One could have been killed, others could be in hiding, but some, like Hort-mool, are probably still around as spies.
Humanoid scouting parties (1d8)
1 - Ogre shepherds (1d3 Ogres, NM). These Ogres are members of the local Ogre tribe. They will report the PCs to their leaders if they survive the encounter, and will be reported as missing otherwise. A party of Ogre warriors will be dispatched to check on them if they fail to report after three days.
2 - Orc hunters (3d4 Orcs 1, led by an Orc 4 sergeant and accompanied by 2d4 trained giant ferrets). These Rotting Snakes hunters are likely to attack a small party, hoping in an easy prey. They will give up easily if a few of them fall.
3 - Orc scouts (1d4+3 Orc 2, all with the Stealth skill). These goblinoids belong to the Blackstone, Jagged Claw or Rotting Snake tribe (choose one or roll 1d3). They are sizing up the Ogres and/or the Darkers, depending on the time when they are met. Their reactions depend on the tribe they belong to, but they are unlikely to attack all but the weakest parties. They might parley, offering an exchange of information.
4 - Orc Warrior on a vision quest (Orc 7/Shaman 1 with totemic animal spirit companion, roll 1d4: 1- Grey wolf, 2- Boar, 3- Mountain Lion, 4- Rock Baboon). This Orc is a spirit warrior, a type of goblinoid warrior-monk with minor shamanic skills. He is following a vision quest, which entails following a totemic spirit in a long trek which is supposed to have some spiritual significance. The Orc is not especially interested in the party, but will fight to defend himself and his animal spirit companion.
5 - Gark, Orc Trader (Orc 4/Wicca 1, with Barter and Loot skills). Gark is a self-reliant, tough goblinoid with a single eye. He has a selection of fetishes and charms to offer. These include healing draughts (1d4+1 HP each), antidotes, and protective charms (+1 to one class of ST or AC for 24 hours, only one charm is effective at every time). All his goods are fairly repulsive by human standards (e.g., a healing potion may have a weird taste and/or a turbid, greenish color), and lose their potency within one week. On the other hand, Gark is reliable, willing to deal with non-goblinoids, and accepts all currency (after checking that coins are truly made of gold, of course).
6 - Achelos Outlaws (1d4+2 F2, 1d3 T3, led by a level 5 NPC). These Traladaran outlaws are en route to meet a larger party of rebels, but do not yet know what their mission will be.
7 - Hill Giant scout (Hill Giant, NM). This Hill Giant is a scout from an outpost to the north. He is either looking for the Ogre chiefs or for the Darkers. His tribal leader wants to meet either of them (depending on who controls Koskatep at this time) to propose a trade alliance.
8 - Hobgoblin spies (2d3 Hobgoblin 1, lead by an Hobgoblin 5 sub-chief). These Hobgoblins come from the Black Eagle Barony and belong to the Roaring Fiends tribe. The Hobgoblins report to the Black Eagle Baron, but there is a 25% chance that one of the Hobgoblin is actually a spy for an Iron Ring Master or Bargle. This spy has the Stealth skill for the Underground and Hill environments. His employer has sent him to gather intelligence about Koskatep, and is looking for a magic item, or perhaps aims to take over the dungeon.
All these parties could be manipulated by The Last One against the ogres and the hill giants of Level 1, if the latter encroach too much. Or they could try to conquer Koskatep for their own reasons. In either case, if the PC’s aid the ogres and the hill giants they could gain their trust and considered guest rather than invaders. The ogres could even employ them to explore the level below, and aid them for equipment and healing.
After the Darkers takeover, the followers of Nyx will try to establish alliances with nearby orcs, hobgoblins and Achelos rebels, but they will oppose any attempt by the Black Eagle to spy on them. Any party unwilling to ally with them will be eventually considered an enemy, and in the long run they will work to eliminate it altogether from western Karameikos. Obviously The Last One, still active on level 10, could use them against the Darkers.