Friday Fantasy: Dungeon Crawl Classics #81: The One Who Watches From Below

We are all fascinated with what is to come, what will happen in our futures, such that many consult horoscopes and seek out fortune tellers and pray to the gods for answers. Such means are rarely reliable, but what if there was a source of true prophecy? A place where answers of true meaning and accuracy can be gained for those willing to seek out its location and pay the price? There have always been rumours and stories of such places, but it one case they are actually true. The Cave of Secrets does exist and if the seeker of his future can find it and pay coins, gems, or magic items as tribute, he can ask the questions that he wants answers to. There are other rumours about Cave of Secrets though… So many men and women have sought answers that a great hoard of treasure has been amassed down the ages. Enough to buy whole kingdoms! Razor-edged swords and powerful wands! Precious gems and jewels that rain through your fingers! Which means that the Cave of Secrets has attracted an entirely different class of person  interested in what it contains! Mercenaries! Robbers! Raiders! Treasure hunters! Adventurers! Now the adventurers have followed the map with an ‘X’ marked ‘Cave of Secrets’ and stand before the cave entrance with its wooden sign which reads, ‘ENTER’.

This is the set-up for Dungeon Crawl Classics #81: The One Who Watches From Below, a scenario published by Goodman Games for use with the Dungeon Crawl Classics Roleplaying Game. Designed for a group of six to eight Player Characters of First Level, the scenario is notable for three things. The first is that it is the winner of the Mystery Map Adventure Design Competition that was included in the pages of the Free RPG Day 2012 adventure module and the second is that as the competition winner, the scenario is actually good. The third is the nature of the curse that dominates the scenario and for the length of the scenario at least, will change how the players roleplay. The curse is triggered by the Player Characters’ greed when they touch the wrong items. Anyone who suffers the curse collapses to the floor, comatose, as his eyes tear themselves from their sockets and flesh grows back over the sockets, and then…! Then, the victim’s eyes move across his body and slide onto the floor and across the walls. The player is no longer roleplaying his character’s body, but just his eyes and he can send them hither and thither. However, the eyes can be attacked and there are some things, like the Eye Slime, which actively hunt these cursed eyes. Further, the only way in which the Player Character can communicate is by blinking or other eye moment and by tracing letters in the air or writing them down, which takes time. To facilitate this, the scenario includes a handout which the Judge can copy and cut out so these is a gap which the Player Character’s eyes can be seen. On the plus side, the Player Character can dominate unintelligent creatures, but this is not easy and the Player Character still cannot communicate using his voice, only the growls and howls of the creature dominated. Ways to remove the curse are suggested, but they are challenging, and ultimately, so is having to roleplay without being able to speak. This does not mean that it will not be entertaining though!

The theme of eyes runs all the way through Dungeon Crawl Classics #81: The One Who Watches From Below. Sets of eyes slide across the walls, blinking and spying on the Player Characters, they bounce down from looming stalks to batter and bruise them, and in one case, they even attempt to blink a message to them! The Player Character Eyes can slide through pipes and cracks and the scenario facilitates this, though the party will need to penetrate beyond the Cave of Secrets that make up the first part of the dungeon. Beyond lies the Temple, clearly a working area, although oddly devoid of its inhabitants. This does not mean that it is free of any dangers. For example, the Player Characters will be able to scour the library for the means to result the eyes to victims of the Cure, but it triggers an attack upon them by every single book in the library! They will likely also discover references here to ‘Shigazilnizthrub’ and ‘The One Who Watches From Below’. There is a room containing ‘Guard Pillars’, eyestalks of a gargantuan subterranean beast that pierce up through the floor and once aware of intruders, bounce up and down on them and rolling over them. The Temple level is the most detailed of the scenario’s four levels and there is a lot here for the Player Characters to discover and examine.

Underneath the Temple are the Brood Pit and the Undertemple. The former injects an arcano-technological element into the scenario as the location of the birthing pools of the abominable Halfling Hybrids that work and protect the complex. The latter is the location for the scenario’s finale and what a finale it is! For players who feel that they have not had enough combat up until now, will certainly get in the final scene. It takes place in ‘The Vault of Eyes’, a massive cavern marked by an abyssal central pit surrounded by mounds and mounds of treasure! There are even wheelbarrows nearby that the Player Characters could use to ferry treasure out of the cavern. Fortuitously, this is one of the treasure vaults of Shigazilnizthrub. Fortuitously, Shigazilnizthrub objects to thieves. So, before the Player Characters have time to go over treasure there is, a titanic black rubbery mass of tendrils, fins, and eyestalks shoots up from the depths of the cavern and surveys all before it. At the same time, the eyes on the walls of the cavern all open and look at the Player Characters. It is a sweet moment of cosmic horror… and choice. Do the Player Characters stay and fight? Do the Player Characters make a run for it? Do the Player Characters make a run for it and attempt to take as much treasure as possible? Make no mistake, this a very challenging, deadly encounter that could end in a total party kill. Or they could defeat Primordial Titan and make off with everything, and become legends. It is possible. More likely, the scenario will end somewhere in between as the Primordial Titan thrashes its tentacles up and down, and the Player Characters make a run for it with what treasure they can carry, chased all the way through the dungeon to the cavern exit by eyes sliding along the walls. It is a memorably great finale.

To support the Judge, Dungeon Crawl Classics #81: The One Who Watches From Below includes notes on how to run the final scene, in particular how to use the Primordial Titan’s ‘powerful suggestion’ which has been changed from ‘domination’ to make for a more interesting and less player agency-denying encounter. There are playtest notes too and a bonus encounter that that did not appear in the original printing of the scenario. There are also another three handouts, images of various locations. It is a pity that there are not more of them as they really help the players visualise the dungeon.

For the long term, Dungeon Crawl Classics #81: The One Who Watches From Below details Shigazilnizthrub as a Patron. This includes his Patron Taint, three Patron spells—Remote Seeing, The Crawling Eye, and Book of the Dead, and his Spellburn. This is an entertaining addition to Dungeon Crawl Classics canon and would work well with Player Character and NPC wizards.

If there is an issue with Dungeon Crawl Classics #81: The One Who Watches From Below it is that the treasure rewards do feel very light. At least in terms of what the Player Characters can carry in terms of coin and gems and thus carry out of ‘The Vault of Eyes’. The scenario is supposed to be giving the Player Characters life-altering amounts of treasure, but the scenario does not allow for that and effectively, the encumbrance rules feel as they limit what can be carried.

Physically, Dungeon Crawl Classics #81: The One Who Watches From Below is as well presented as you would expect for a scenario for the Dungeon Crawl Classics Roleplaying Game. The writing, the artwork, the cover in particular, and the cartography are all excellent.

Dungeon Crawl Classics #81: The One Who Watches From Below is a great dungeon crawl infused with a sense of cosmic horror, given lots of detail and entertaining encounters, and topped off with brilliantly weird gimmick of a curse. The combination will not only present a challenge to any player, but also really make for a fun playing experience.

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Dungeon Crawl Classics #80.5: Glipkerio’s Gambit was the previous scenario •

The next scenario is Dungeon Crawl Classics #82: Bride of the Black Manse.