Helpful Advice and Convenient Encapsulations

[Pulpatoon]

Introduction

Sorcerer-King Syantides, autocrat of the ancient city-state Mur, has made a terrible blunder. The fabulous Nul Rod (an anti-magical artifact of mythic proportions), long kept safely locked away in his Tower Impregnable, has been taken by one of Syantides’ sons, the gallant Prince Eyraen.

Unable to master the mystic arts and doomed to obscurity in the shadows of his nine (confirmed) siblings, the Prince dedicated himself to mastering the arts of war and became a mighty fighting-man and prominent explorer. While outfitting himself for an expedition, Eyraen discovered the Nul Rod among his father’s substantial treasure hoard and appropriated the relic for use on a suicidal errand into the unfathomable Underworld.

At some point in their delve, the Prince’s party met with a terrible fate from which only a single porter escaped. This young man, his hair prematurely white from terror, was able to offer very little in the way of coherent testimony before breaking free of his restraints and throwing himself into Stonespear River. The authorities found a rough map from the expedition in the youth’s tattered sack, along with a small golden idol depicting a little known godling, Shaggath-Ka the Worm Sultan. Former associates of the Prince confirmed that Eyraen has longed to inflict a terrible vengeance upon the Worm Sultan, to whom one of the Prince’s most ardent lovers was sacrificed in an unspeakable rite.

According to the map, Shaggath-Ka’s realm lies somewhere beneath the frontier territories to which your group has traveled in search of adventure.

Just yesterday, the local captain attempted to plumb these depths with a sizable force of soldiers. A half-insane survivor, before renouncing his citizenship and disappearing into the night, reported that the war band attracted so much attention they were drawn into a series of nonstop battles. The captain and his remaining stalwarts fell in an encounter with a singular horror that the surviving man-at-arms was either unable or unwilling to describe.

The agents of the Sorcerer-King hope that a smaller expedition, proceeding stealthily and choosing their battles wisely (this cannot be overemphasized), might have a better chance of success. The section of the Underworld visited by the Prince’s party was at least partially pacified, and many horrors were destroyed. Certainly, whatever wiped out the party remains at large, but with care, planning, and stealth, the Nul Rod may still be recoverable. The further opportunity to reclaim any treasures procured by the Prince before fate overtook him should not be ignored.

The entrance to the Underworld used by the Prince lies but a few hours’ travel into the nearby wilderness. But, with perpetual internecine wars raging on all fronts, most of the greatest heroes in the Sorcerer-King’s service are dead, occupied, or very far away. And so in Fort Enterprise, the modest wilderness outpost you have chosen as your base of operations, the Sorcerer-King’s regent has determined to press into service whomever he can find who might pass for bold adventurers. Your newly formed company, already planning a career in exploration, treasure hunting, and dungeon delving, will simply have to suffice.

As nominal subjects of the Sorcerer-King, you are officially compelled into service. However, the regent says, there shall no doubt be a princely reward for your efforts, to be determined in a face-to-face meeting with Syantides (a rare privilege indeed), should you succeed.

With only scant clues to follow, an incomplete map of Eyraen’s expedition, and a few loaner magic items, your group must find the prince, dead or alive, and return with the relic. To further complicate matters, spies within the Sorcerer-King’s government have probably already reported to their nefarious masters the true nature of the relic and the prince’s folly. Even now, other parties may be setting out on the same subterranean path. Time is of the essence!

[Pulpatoon]

Underworld Facts & Tips

Fact: The Underworld is known to all as a vast mythic realm far beneath the world, a place of living legend and the source of nightmares, albeit ones that occasionally intrude into the waking world.

Fact: Most of the entrances to the Underworld in the civilized south are known and carefully watched over. Many were sealed long ago by great works of engineering and sorcery. But when the glaciers retreated during the most recent catastrophe, entrances inaccessible since the onset of the last ice age became usable. Several have been charted, but many more remain unknown.

Fact: Here in Stonespear Province, the primal source of Chaos seems closer at hand than in the south. Consequently, an inexhaustible variety of strange and terrible horrors stalk the local areas of the Underworld, blundering onto the surface from time to time.

Fact: Heroes of this world aspire to one day be masterful enough to pit their strength and fortitude against the horrors of the Underworld. An ancient tradition, still honored in many cultures, encourages aging warriors and adventurers to end their careers by setting off alone into the deeps, smashing Chaos in its nest before succumbing to their inevitable ends. Many religions contain clauses entitling those who perish in the Underworld to exalted status in the afterlife.

Fact: Dead heroes (from every epoch of the world, including those of extinct races) often leave behind fantastic relics and enchanted arms when they perish. Sometimes, in the Underworld, fabulous treasures are just left lying around waiting to be rediscovered by anyone brave or curious enough to look.

Fact: Secrets of the universe, the nature of creation, and other eldritch knowledge can only be had through studies of Primal Chaos and its source in the Underworld, a major draw for power-hungry sorcerers.

Fact: In the Chaos-rich Underworld, the laws of nature that govern the surface world behave more like loose guidelines, prone to unannounced suspensions or inversions. You can trust gravity, for instance, most of the time.

Tip: Underworld groups and factions tend to hate each other much more passionately than you, whatever your crimes. Pit them against one another!

Tip: If you encounter surface folk, they are probably treasure hunters like yourselves, possibly vicious, likely treacherous, and might have already struck it rich. Consider robbing them.

Tip: Your intimate knowledge of Monster Manuals and Fiend Folios can avail you nothing here! Approach all creatures with due caution, sometimes the tiniest ones are the most lethal.

Tip: Sometimes even terrifying creatures just want a nice chat and might want to impart some of their Underworld wisdom. Try talking! From a distance!

Tip: You might find an occasional graven image of the prominent Underworld godlings on the main thoroughfares. A contribution of some small amount of coin might be a good idea.

Tip: When in doubt, seek concealment! Rumor has it there are relatively secure hidey-holes here and there.

GOOD LUCK!

[Pulpatoon]

The Adventure, So Far
Such are the whims of fate and the cruelties of happenstance that a ragged collection of fustilarians and scoundrels found themselves huddled against the cold in Fort Enterprise, a rough outpost in the Stonespear Province of Upper Mastodonia.

They were charged by Govenor Krofax, a former barbarian turned regent, to retrieve the fabled Null-Rod, and given a generous array of enchanted items to aid them in this task.

"You're on a mission to return an artefact of vital importance to His Imperial Majesty, The Sorcerer-King. The King's own son, the gallant Prince Eyrean, for reasons beyond your concern, took possession of the fabulous Nul-Rod, and took a body of warriors North, to our humble Province, and then into the Underworld. Only a single porter returned. He is the source of this map. It was found in his bag along with a small golden idol of Shaggath-Kahn, an under-local Chaos godling.

"My predecessor took the main force of the local garrison, a sizable force, and followed the Prince in hopes of rescuing him and retrieving the Rod. Again, only a single, maddened survivor emerged. He reported, among his ravings, that a large war-band draws too much attention among the denizens of the deep.

"We are now placing our faith in smaller smaller groups, proceeding by stealth and guile.

"It is assumed the Prince is dead. Confirmation of this fact would be appreciated, as the Empire could then begin its official period of morning. But the goal of your expedition is the Nul-rod. It must be returned to the Tower Impregnable, but just as much so, it must not fall into the hands of the agents of Chaos.

"We have sent one or two parties before you. Furthermore, spies within the government of Mur have no doubt spread word of the Prince's folly. There will be other expeditions setting out along the same subterranean paths.

"Should you succeed, there will be no reward too extravagant—titles, lands, riches, life-extending magics. Should you return empty-handed, you will suffer the most heinous agonies the Noble Lich Masters of Mur can bring to bear. You will pine for a chance to die in the Worm Sultan's maw."

They were also marked with invisible tattoos that, should they abandon their task, will alert every assassin, bounty hunter, and trooper in the service of the Sorcerer-King.

The party consists of:
Gurzubar: a failed politician turned adventurer.
Cedric: a squeaky-voiced outlaw.
Galot Wenz: a courteous and fashionable exile.
Bubba Broadside: A hulking servant, still dressed in livery.
Holy Ollan Lumis: A wild-eyed seeker of Truth.
Anurak Punyaa Poonsong Orm: A jovial gastronomist.

They are joined by:
Sergeat Oothu: a dutiful barbarian-turned-border-guard, who has resigned himself to death on this mission.
Krodok: a Wooly Neanderthal, who seeks his unrequited love, a human adventuress named Shantora Lax.

After a three-day trek through the wildnerness of Upper Mastadonia, the party finds the cavernous entryway to the Underworld, which, in turn, leads to a perilous ladder, 1000’ of uninterrupted descent.

Day One
They are almost immediately plucked up by a whirlwind, which carries and careens them through the rocky confines of the Underworld dumping them unceremoniously in a pile along with several giant pill bugs and dozens of tiny human figures (none of whom survived their twister-ride).

Following the pill bugs, the party discovers the roly-polys being predated upon by Mind-Bats, along with a spirit-questing Wooly Neanderthal, Kopholo. The Mind-Bats are quickly dispatched, although the party suffers some damage from being in the way of panicked pill bugs.

Anurak makes a delicious dinner of pill-bug fritters, only to have a pack of flaming hounds race through the chamber, upsetting the pan of hot oil, burning Anurak horribly and setting Galot on fire. And then another pill bug stampede rolls over them.

The small passage open onto a larger cavern, Hell’s Back Road. Here they find what would, aboveground, be an arch-lich’s ransom in coins scattered around a giant skeleton.

Then, the blue-green ambient light of the Underworld suddenly snapped out, leaving them in darkness. By lamplight, they encounter a pair of science-fungoids carting mushrooms. After ingesting communication spores, the party is able to understand the language of the fungoids, but chooses not engage.

The party passes their first night what the fungoids referred to as a “Beetle Shelter.”

Day Two
The party heads East on Hell’s Back Road. They find a spectacular, luminous fungal bloom, and are spooked by a horrible noise emanating from a random patch of air. Soon after, they encounter Chaos Flies, carrying the carrion-corpse for a Fort Enterprise soldier. After a brief period of curious investigation, the flies deem Gurzubar edible, and make off with the better part of his left arm.

Anurak applies his experience with butchery to neatly amputating the rest of Gurzubar’s arm. The party rests, letting Gurzubar recover. The flaming hounds make another appearance, and then the party is beset by Beetle Ghosts, who are, apparently, just having a laugh at the above-grounders’ expense.

As Hell’s Back Road curves north, the party encounters a wedding procession of grey-skinned humanoids dropping offerings down a bottomless pit to appease forces of Chaos. The parties meet amicably, and decide to travel together for awhile.

The wedding procession celebrates the coming marriage of Yoothandra of Castle Ziro and the warrior Fuloso. They have many stops to make and many rituals to observe before they reach their destination: The Valley of the Black Oozes.

The party splits ways with the wedding procession when they encounter science fungoids again.

"How felicitous! How absolutely perfectly suited to the present requirements! You are humans, are you not? Of course you are, I'me getting quite familiar with the genus! We are what the local sentient fauna refer to as 'Science Fungoids.' Specifically, we are representative instances of the Human Studies division of Fungoid Science Command, headquartered in a magnificent facility down the Black Ooze River. And we just so happen to be involved in an absolutely significant study of the effects of certain spores on human physiology. We've had an unusually high number of specimens pass through in recent weeks, and the findings have been beyond exciting! Can we count on your help in furthering the frontiers of knowledge?"

Hoping to miraculously restore his arm via fungal mutation, Gurzubar volunteers. His arm remains a stub, but he gains ruby eye lasers. Bubba decides to try his luck, and ends up with his entire nervous-system replaced by fungal tissues. This has surprisingly no discernible effect.

Continuing north, the party encounters Solgum the Resplendent and his retinue of Newt-Men. It s getting late, and Solgum claims a nearby Beetle Shelter, and is a real jerk about it.

Missing the company of the Wedding procession, it is decided to follow them to the east, but it is getting late, and they make camp. Here, they are briefly held at gun-point by Dr. Ephram Thontorius, of the Omni-Cosmic University’s Department of Cosmology; a bear from the far-flung science fantasy future who has traveled back in time to stop a colleague from setting off an eventual robot apocalypse.

And so passes the party’s second night in the Underworld.