The Sacbe 7 (Leaving the Cetay)

The travelers remained in the village of cetay for several days. When it was time to leave, two of the villagers, Hosa and Hoscotl, volunteered to come along on the journey to Nexal. The village had once been the guardian of a legendary feather-cloak and rumors suggested that the cloak was last seen in Nexal. The travelers showed little interest in the legends of another village but they were happy to have additional companion for their journey.

While waiting for the appointed day of departure, Zollin, Atl and Omechoka heard rumors that animals had been seen—or at least heard—in the forest outside the village. Reasoning that a few hours hunting could provide them with enough meat to sustain them in their journey and to leave a gift with their hosts in the village, Zollin, Atl and Omechoka asked their new friend Hosa to help them track the mysterious animals. After several hours hunting, they heard a strange and unbeautiful sound, a long, rhythmic shriek without pathos. They traced the sound to a pair of huge, many-armed creatures, with heads like men, but lacking features. Atl encouraged Omechoka and Hosa to attack the creatures.

Atl’s exhortation was irrelevant as the creatures were charging and the terrible sound that seemed to emanate from them reached a nearly deafening level. They resembled enormous ants or other insects. They were multicolored—gray on the bottom and reddish brown on top. Their mandibles were like knives and their arms were like spears. Theirs tails tapered to a sharp point. Omechoka and Hosa prepared their weapons.

Hosa’s first blow knocked off one of the creature’s arms. Without flinching, it lashed at him with its remaining arm and mandibles. The other creature attacked Omechoka. Attacking it with his knife, he found that it seemed to be made of a strange metal, much harder than gold or silver. Hosa struck his attacker another solid blow, knocking off its head, whereupon it began flailing wildly and running in circles. Omechoka, fighting with a knife, was forced to get much closer to his assailant, relying on his armor to protect him. The giant bug lodged its mandibles in a thick fold of Omechoka’s jaguar pelt. He used this opportunity to seize hold of its head and wrench it from its body. This did not incapacitate the creature, however. Instead, it thrashed at Omechoka with its arms, cutting him several times across his chest. Atl and Zolin rushed forward to club the monster to the ground. When its body ruptured, there was an explosion of cold vapor, but no blood or viscera. As the four companions in battle caught their breath and tended to each others’ wounds, they heard the sound of another creature approaching. This one moved much more quickly, especially with its stinging tail. Omechoka was struck and collapsed to the ground. The top of the creature’s back opened like the lid of a box. His friend’s, shocked and horrified, watched the creature lift Omachoka with its long, spindly arms and placed him in the box, and in the same motion turned and started to run. Hosa chased after it and knocked off one of the creature’s legs. In the same instant, he was felled by a quick dart of the tail and pulled inside the creature. Zolin and Atl, however, attacked it from the sides before it could run away and brought it to the ground. There was a sizzling sound like a strike of lightning and then the creature was still. Zolin and Atl pried open the creature and dragged their friends out of the cavity inside. They were cold and unresponsive, but alive. Zolin and Atl carried them back to the village, where Atl mixed a warming drink to revive his friends.

The next day they finally set out, no richer for meat, but with three weeks’ worth of beans and maize. They traveled for three days in the jungle and reached a cliff where they saw that next section of their journey would take them across dry plains. They rested here for the night, and found places to refill their waterskins. During the night they heard voices. Atl called out that those making the noises should show themselves. Silence. A restless night for all.

The travelers reached the plains. The grass was brown. And, as the days progressed the dry grass turned to cracked earth. The wind picked up and tossed clouds of sand into the air, obscuring the white stones of the sacbe. The travellers pressed on toward Nexal and the valley of Zatal.

The Hidden Shrine of Tamoachan (collab with Rainbow Monkey Sock)

What happened inside the pyramid?

Bo Jing remembers it this way . . .

I Bo Jing was on the ship seeking adventure and new trade routes that would benefit my family.  I found many adventures, but as we reached Maztica, I wondered what new goods I would find. .But I really wanted adventure.

Inside the pyramid, I had many adventures.

There was a huge boulder that turned out to be a giant crab.  I leaped on top of it, drawing my fiery sword and with a great shout and a mighty blow, cleaved its shell in half and killed the monster.

Approaching another room, we heard singing.  We put wax in our ears to thwart any magical charm.  There was a woman swimming in a pool. I did my best to ignore her, telling myself she was an ugly siren, like a tadpole without a tail.  I knew that she wasn't really beautiful but just looked that way because of magic.

In another part of the pyramid, Bayan and I  got trapped behind iron bars that fell from the ceiling.  My friends noticed a painting of a sun and Shoji pressed it.  The bars opened and a secret passage was revealed behind the sun.

In that hall, there were four animal heads, one an eagle with a shiny thing in its beak.  When Kafka tried to get the shiny thing, the eagle's mouth shut and hurt him. Bayan unlocked the eagle's mouth with a tickle on the chin.

Continuing to explore the pyramid, we were alarmed when suddenly two iron doors slammed in front of us and behind us and sand began filling up the little space we had.  Singh got his axe and kept battering the door then he gave me the axe and I screamed my battle cry and smashed it down.

We came upon a room filled with giant beetles.  Bangqiu was a  coward. He floated up to scare the beetles and climb the mountain of trash and then he grabbed a shiny knife from inside the stinking pile of beetle excrement.


After the ball game (a tale for another day) my cowardly friend Bangqiu called out for help from Sardan. We got out of a hole in the roof that sardan made.

Play Report: The Hidden Shrine of Tamoachan

Sometimes I write reviews of adventures that are five years old.  Sometimes I write reviews of reviews that are 5 years old.  In this case, Dungeon of Signs, reviewing The Hidden Shrine of Tamoachan.  I'm doing this because I don't have much to add to what Mr. Lux wrote, except that I won't follow him to his bizarre conclusion that this is a really good module, but not good enough to play.  Because I did run the adventure, I have access to some additional insights, that I offer as tips on how to run the adventure.

As Lux notes, this one is hard to drop into a campaign, and I can't imagine re-skinning its Meso-American setting.  Its far from "accurate."  Mayan and Aztec pyramids were places for sacrifices, not burials, and didn't have much of an inside.  The Nereid (beautiful naked temptress) is from Greek mythology and feels really foreign to the Meso-American view of life as pain without pretense.  Despite this, the illustration booklet is very important to the adventure and everything in it looks Aztec  (or Chinese-- but only slightly and it's just one room.)  For me, the setting was easy.  My players wanted to leave their faux-Asian homeland to sail across an open ocean and discover a new world.

The illustration booklet is great and essential.  I very much agree with Lux that rather than try to describe the various trap-ridden rooms, it's great to have a picture to pass around.  My copy had no map booklet, but it's easy to find the illustrations online.

In the 70s, everything was foreign and foreign was always a license to weird.  Unlike Maztica, which tries, oh so earnestly tries, to respect other cultures (and makes them all sound like hippies), this module's authors have no embarrassment about their ignorance and rely on their imaginations to fill in the gaps.  Again, the Nereid makes no sense but provided a lot of laughs, even though none of the PCs wanted to play the straight man and instead went to great lengths to avoid looking at the cavorting nymph. (Shoji revealed that he was asexual.)

The monsters are good, though as Lux notes, PC will easily miss the most interesting ones. This could be fixed by coming up with a quest to retrieve a particular object rather than simply escape the pyramid.  He's also correct that all the monsters all seem attack-oriented.  (Except the Nereid, I keep coming back to the Nereid.)  I'm not sure this is a problem worth fixing.  The rooms are self-contained and the residents are so alien that it's believable that they wouldn't have knowledge or interest in other parts of the dungeon.  And the aggressiveness kind of fits with Aztec views of the world.  On another note, the monsters, while individually tough, are not numerous.  My party of 10 (PCs and henchman) was probably too large.

Lux disapproves of the poison gas, but it worked well for me.  We have limited time IRL so it was good to have an in-game reason for haste.  I didn't track the time closely, but the players had a sense of urgency about them. And they could not take a brute force approach to every problem ("Everyone stands guard and I individually press each block on the south wall.  Ok, now the west wall.  Ok, let's rest and heal and re-learn spells.") Lux is correct that this feeling of haste creates tension with all the weird objects begging for attention, but I think this helps preserve the wonder.  My PCs know they missed some things and are talking about going back.

Lux is correct about the clunky text and clunkier special mechanics.  I don't agree, however, that this necessitates hours of preparation.  Because the rooms are self-contained and because the residents are combat-oriented, you don't need to think too much about how it all fits together.  The adventure kind of runs itself so you can just pause and skim each room while your players look at the illustration.

Here's what I would do to prepare:

1. Look at the map.  Starting with a cave-in that lands the PCs in room 1 works well and the gas extends through to room 39.  Like Google maps, there are three routes that lead to the same destination.  The routes cross over each other, so there are probably 7 or 8 combinations that will get PCs through the maze.
2. Think about whether you want to move the cover star to a different room where the PCs are more likely to meet him.  Or if he has something that will cause them to seek him out.
3. Be ready to wing it on things like drowning or dodging boulders.  The mechanics are complicated and inconsistent and rather than study them it might make sense to use saving throws.  As with the poison gas, the threat of sand filling up a closed room is scary.  But the in-play emphasis should be on the atmosphere rather than the mechanics.  Rolling dice doesn't really enhance the suspense. 

Over the Waves Part 10 (Landfall)

And so the Binggongchang left the Island of Wisdom and after another day of smooth sailing reached a suitable place to land.  Bangqiu dropped anchor about one hundred yards off shore and the boat was lowered.  All passengers and sailors were ferried to shore, just to give everyone a chance to walk on dry land after their many weeks at sea. 

The landing place was a narrow beach surrounded by marshes and jungle.  Rhialle recognized a mountain range further inland and Bagqiu concluded that he had made good use of Sakatha's ring.  The sailors and sohei returned to the ship while Bangqiu organized an exploration party that would travel inland to find Rhialle's settlement.  Kafka argued that he should remain with the ship to maintain order among the sohei and sailors.  But Bangqiu insisted that he would need his help in this strange new land.  Kafka relented and placed Mai-Thi in charge.

Thus, the exploration party comprised:
Bangqiu, with Kafka, Damai, and Rhialle
Bo-Jing
Shoji and his bodyguard Singha
Bayan and her adviser Minh
Hyamsam

The Lucky Ten camped on the beach and then set off into the jungle the next morning.  By midday, they came upon a human settlement, one where the people spoke the same language as Rhialle.  They did not know him, but they knew the way to his home.

A few more days of travel brought them to the village of Tamoachitz.  Here Rhialle was recognized and the party was welcomed and honored-- but not in a manner that they recognized as friendly.  After a few nights, Rhialle heard the shrill piping that he recognized as the prelude to a special sacrifice.  He thanked Bangqiu for bringing him home and urged him to flee with his friends. Bangqiu agreed that he did not wish to be sacrificed but convinced Rhialle that he was ready to explore other paths to enlightenment.  And so the Lucky Ten left Tamoachitz in the middle of the night, setting up across the surrounding jungle.

A full moon guided their path, and they made their way toward a light that glowed in the trees.  This turned out to be the ruins of a towering pyramid.  They slept on the white stones of the deserted city.  In the morning, while planning their next move, the explorers heard the noise of the pursuers.  In controlled panic, they ran toward the pyramid.  Then the earth shuddered and gaped open beneath the party's feet.  They fell amidst a roar of collapsing masonry.  Dust filled the air and the sunlight disappeared as the darkness swallowed the,. 

Over the Waves Part 9 (The Island of Wisdom)

Morning showed no obvious place to seek harbor.  Binggongchang skirted beneath the rocky cliffs of the new continent, close enough to enjoy fragrant breezes but without finding a place to put the boat ashore.  After a few hours, the tantalizing cruise seemed to offer something better-- a verdant island with a deepwater harbor with a channel that was navigable into its interior-- a huge flooded cave. 

Shoji and Bo Jing who had improved on their rudimentary knowledge of sailing during the course of the voyage were able to bring the Binggongchang to a natural dock.  Artful placement of the gangplank allowed the passengers to walk down to a gravel beach without getting their feet wet.  The dripping water sounded like music.  Or maybe that was music, even singing.

Was this Party Island at last?

No,  it was her older, wiser older sister.  About half the sailors refused to get off the ship.

The leaders of the expedition, however, were intrigued and after disembarking made their way eagerly toward a gentle light.  They met a man there who introduced himself as Saridan and invited them to join him in meditation. 

Weeks passed.  Those who weren't familiar with seaweed salad learned to love it.

And then it was time for The Tests.

Hyamsam was brought into a small room and told to sit at a table and watch a rock until it jumped.  It seemed boring and pointless but (with some meta-game encouragement from White Bear) he persisted.  Saridan reward him with this lesson-- moderation in all things including patience, especially when someone asks you to wait for a rock to jump.

Shoji was brought a shrine dedicated to The Path of the Red Mountain and invited to re-dedicate it to his own School.  Although he found the practitioners of The Path of the Red Mountain to be insufferable busybodies, he allowed that their beliefs affirmed goodness in thought, word, and action, and that he refused to treat his faith as a tribal affinity.  He declined to disturb the rival shrine.  Saridan congratulated him.

Next, Saridan invited Bo Jing into a cave lined with swords and asked him a provoking question.  "What would you do if I tried to kill you?"  Bo Jing laughed off the piece of hypothetical sophistry.  When Saridan picked upa fiery sword, Bo Jing drew his katana and fended off a flurry of attacks without seeking to strike Saridan.  Saridan congratulated Bo Jing on his ability to defend himself without excessive force and gifted him with the fiery sword.

Finally, Saridan led Bangqiu and Bayan to a cave with a seemingly bottomless pit in the center.  He told them that they would be leaving the island soon but that he would answer a call for help if they were willing to sacrifice their most valuable possession.  After some debate between the two of them Bayan cast her magical sword-- a gift from her mentor Beatriss-- into the pit.  Bangqiu, reasoning that even though he didn't see much use in the Blood Gem Crucible, he had fought a dragon to get it and assassins to keep it, and thus it was, objectively, the most valuable.  He cast it away with little reluctance.  Saridan scolded them for their lack of confidence in their own abilities but promised that he would honor his promise.

Shoji and Bo Jing were each presented with an additional gift, a glowing pearl, that when dissolved in saltwater, resulted in a bubbling ruby-red drink that was sweeter than honey.

Everyone else-- except those sailors who had refused to leave the ship-- got a vial of holy water.

Over the Waves Part 8 (Another Blind Captain)

In the tense days after the ghost ship encounter, Shoji tended to Bayan and the most shaken sohei, many of whom had suffered spiritual or mental trauma from their contact with the crate. As their minds cleared, Bayan requested to see the contents again.

Bangqiu claimed the mirror — the most obviously magical item. Bayan identified a functional astrolabe and chronometer among the odd metal pieces, intuiting their purpose. Bo-Jing quietly pocketed a set of intricate keys, believing they must unlock something important. The jar of dark liquid, too strange to keep and too dangerous to discard, was entrusted to Shoji.

The remaining contents — oddly-shaped metals and rotting books — were given to Bangqiu for future study.

But the real threat was hunger. Hyamsam shared his food with the sailors, and Captain Won asked Bangqiu to requisition rations from the sohei. Bangqiu agreed — enforcing shared rations across the ship. The crew’s mood improved, and with long oars, they rowed day and night, trying to escape the stillness of the sea.

Then things broke.

During sparring with Bo-Jing, a sailor hurled a hammer at Captain Won. It missed — but signaled a mutiny. More than a dozen sailors attacked. Won cut down several, even as Hyamsam turned against him, firing magic missiles. The rest overwhelmed him. Bangqiu appeared on deck, commanding them to stop.

The sailors, afraid, obeyed. Bangqiu demanded answers. The crew confessed: Won had threatened that if they didn't obey, he was going to let Bangqiu eat them. As Won stood up and killed another crewman, Bangqiu struck him down with a blast of blue-green energy. The sailors finished him off.

They named Hyamsam their new captain, who promised to sail to “Party Island” — a myth Won had used to keep them in line.

That night, Bangqiu searched the captain’s cabin, uncovering the truth: Won had long since given up on escaping the doldrums. In his cabin, Bangqiu took out Sakatha’s ring. He turned it, imagining faraway places. The ring turned to lead and cracked.

A wind rose. The ship turned north. The current swept them east. In five days, they saw land: a vast continent.

That night, the crew danced. Shoji led meditations, joined by Bo-Jing and three students. But inside the ship, the jar of dark liquid boiled violently, shaking as if possessed. Shoji hurled it out the window.

It exploded.

From the steam and shattered glass, a man emerged, newborn and slick-skinned, but Shoji recognized the face — twisted, skeletal, now soft and blank — the undead captain reborn.

He hit the water and disappeared. Bayan, awake, saw the figure in the moonlight, clutching something to his chest as he sank beneath the waves.

Over the Waves Part 7 (The Blind Captain)

At dawn, the Binggongchang drifted through still waters when the lookout spotted a ghost ship approaching — silent, splintered, and crewed by a full complement of animated skeletons. It moved without wind or sail, dragged across the sea by three massive rusted chains, each pulled by something submerged.

As the ghost ship closed in, one of its crew climbed the mast — a skeletal figure dressed in the once-elegant cloak and hat of a merchant-captain, his face hidden behind tight, white bandages. When he reached the top, he transformed — soft, pink flesh bloomed into a clumsy, winged horror, which lurched into the air and landed in the crow’s nest of the Binggongchang.

There, Bangqiu appeared midair, invisible no more, and unleashed a barrage of magic missiles, ripping away the creature’s outer flesh to reveal a skeletal face grinning beneath.

“Oh, a wizard!” it said with glee. “I’ve been looking for another wizard. I think we can help each other.”

On the deck below, chaos stirred. Bo-Jing, eager to strike, misjudged the distance and fell into the sea. There, he found the chains belonged to three scaled and clawed monsters, fishlike and fiendish, pulling the ghost ship forward. They lunged for him — but he drew upon his ki and a blessing from Shoji, grabbing one of the chains and vaulting upward. He scaled the side of the ghost ship, dodging fangs and slashing as he climbed, leaping from wall to mast in a storm of blade and water.

Back in the sky, Bangqiu hesitated at the creature’s offer. He responded with a trio of flaming shurikens — but they were deflected by a giant skeletal hand conjured from nothing. The fight was on.

“Why am I fighting this one alone?” Bangqiu shouted.

Shoji called back calmly, already directing the crew to stay below. He called on sacred light, shielding Bangqiu from the worst of the lich’s magic. He moved through the fray, chanting prayers and guiding his allies — a steadying force amid the mayhem.

Bayan attempted to climb the mast but was caught in a web spell, dropped by the lich. Arrows passed harmlessly through the lich’s spectral body until Damai’s magical shots found purchase. Bangqiu and Hyamsam combined their power, launching a final wave of elemental fury that brought the creature down — it vanished in a burst of flame.

With the captain gone, the deck skeletons crumbled to dust. Meanwhile, Bo-Jing killed the sea monsters, severing the ghost ship’s means of propulsion.

The group crossed to the ghost ship and descended into its rotten interior. Beneath the deck, fish-zombies waited in the shadows, but sunlight piercing the hull held them at bay. Following Shoji’s advice, the party broke open more holes in the deck to let in the light.

Bayan crashed through the rotted floor into a pool of ankle-deep water and stood firm in a patch of sunlight. There they discovered a strangely pristine wooden crate, marked with a symbol they had seen before, glowing faintly and sealed tight. When Bayan touched it, she fell into despair and wandered toward the shadows. Shoji and Bangqiu worked together — one casting, the other grounding her spirit — and Bo-Jing dragged her back into the light.

Bangqiu went above desk and called for Kafka’s assistance in opening the crate. About a dozen sohei brought axes to chop their way into it.

 It was grueling work, physically and spiritually. The effort in chopping through a single plank reduced a disciplined monk to tears.  When the hole was large enough, Bangqiu squeezed inside. The contents were strange and-- except for a large, highly-reflective mirror and some spools of gold wire-- did not, at a glance, seem to deserve such protection. Nevertheless, Bangqiu called for baskets, sacks and ropes so that the entire contents of the crate could be removed from the ghost ship to the  Binggongchang. 

As the sun was setting, Bangqiu followed the last of the dubious treasures—a large jar filled with dark liquid—out of the hole and back to his own ship. Once everyone was accounted for, they cast off from the ghost ship, tossing an oil-soaked torch behind them. The sailors had brought up the long oars and those who had strength joined them in rowing the ship slowly forward through the seaweed-choked sea. All night, they watched the ghost ship burning. Those who slept pretended to forget their dreams.