Table of Contents

Adventure Synopsis ...... 1 Sidebar: Experience Points...... 18 Using this Book...... 1 Chapter 2: The Sea Sidebar: Content Warning ...... 1 Between Realms...... 19 Milestone Leveling...... 1 Adventure Synopsis ...... 19 The Subterranean Realms ...... 2 Sidebar: Berthold’s Message #2...... 19 K’n-yan ...... 2 Across K’n-yan ...... 19 The Ancient Ones ...... 2 Riverside Farm...... 19 Slaves of the Ancients...... 3 Mysterious Grove...... 20 Comes to K’n-yan...... 3 The Nameless Temple...... 20 Sidebar: Describing Designer Creatures...... 3 The Water Entrance...... 21 Yoth ...... 3 Sidebar: Ancient One Watercrawlers...... 21 Yothans...... 4 Watery Passage to Yoth...... 21 Designer Creatures...... 4 1. Voonith Lair...... 21 Tsathoggua Comes to Yoth ...... 4 2. Slime Cavern...... 22 N’kai ...... 4 3. Whirlpool ...... 22 4. Chuul Warren ...... 22 Chapter 1: The Cavern of K’n-yan. . .5 5. Aboleth Lair...... 22 Adventure Synopsis ...... 5 6. Black Hole...... 23 Descent to Tsath...... 5 7. Sunken Temple ...... 23 Adventuring in K’n-yan...... 6 8. Prehistoric Temple...... 24 Visibility ...... 6 9. Starspawn Chamber...... 25 Food and Drink...... 6 The Sea of Yoth ...... 25 Treasure ...... 6 Surfacing...... 25 Sidebar: Dreadful Creatures...... 7 Yothan Crocodiles...... 25 The Passage of Time...... 7 Formless Pollution...... 26 Ancient One Factions...... 7 Sidebar: Experience Points...... 26 K’n-yan Random Encounters...... 7 Chapter 3: The Red Cavern Saint Berthold’s Missives...... 8 Sidebar: Berthold’s Message #1 ...... 8 of Yoth ...... 27 The City of Tsath ...... 8 Adventure Synopsis ...... 27 Residences...... 8 Sidebar: Berthold’s Message #3...... 27 A. The Furrow...... 8 Across the Red-Litten Plain...... 27 A1. Crossfire...... 8 The River of Ichor...... 28 A2. Cavalry Patrol ...... 9 The Plain of Yoth...... 28 A3. The Path Goes On...... 9 The Ziggurat of the Black Seal ...... 28 B. Toppled Tower...... 9 1. Grand Staircase & Landing ...... 28 B1. Open Top ...... 11 Landing Tier...... 29 B2. Wraith Lair ...... 11 Upper Staircase ...... 29 B3. Bone-Strewn Chamber...... 11 2. Serpentfolk Camp ...... 29 B4. Confused Laborer’s Chamber...... 11 3. Flaming Staircase...... 30 B5. Holding Pen ...... 11 4. Spider Lair ...... 30 C. Archaeologist’s Hideout...... 11 5. Broken Staircase...... 31 D. Antiquarian Institute...... 12 6. Rear Landing...... 31 E. Tribunal Palace ...... 14 7. Obelisk of Damage...... 31 F. Salvage Operation ...... 15 8. Designer’s Laboratory...... 32 G. Golden Spire ...... 15 9. Obelisk of Speed ...... 32 H. Cannibal Cookout...... 16 10. Broken Obelisk...... 32 I. Temple of Tulu...... 16 11. Foundry ...... 32 J. Two Barricades...... 17 12. Obelisk of Resolve...... 33 K. Temple of Yig...... 17 13. The Long Stair...... 33 L. Hedonist’s Palace...... 17 14. Upper Parapets...... 33 SampleM. Amphitheater...... 17 15. Shrine of the Black Seal. . . . .file . . . . . 34 Inside the Amphitheater...... 18 Sidebar: Experience Points...... 34 N. Temple of Tsathoggua...... 18 Leaving Tsath ...... 18

iii Chapter 4: The Lightless Force Lance...... 66 Realm of N’kai...... 35 Journal of Arcane Correspondence ...... 66 antern of n yan Adventure Synopsis ...... 35 L K’ - ...... 66 Sidebar: Berthold’s Message #4...... 35 Adventuring in N’kai...... 35 Sidebar: Disease: Lightning Leprosy ...... 36 Lights On or Off? ...... 36 Resting ...... 36 Black Ichor ...... 36 Tsathoggua Shrines...... 36 The Lightless Warrens ...... 37 A. Welcoming Committee...... 37 B. False Turns ...... 37 C. Serpentfolk’s Shrine...... 37 D. Roper Holes ...... 37 E. Riverside Shrine ...... 39 F. Easy Crossing...... 39 G. Prehistoric Ruins...... 39 H. Sea of Living Ichor ...... 39 I. Lonely Shrine...... 39 J. Zhaumspawn Lair...... 39 K. Entrance to Tsathoggua’s Lair...... 39 Tsathoggua’s Lair ...... 40 Attacking the Throne...... 40 Option 1...... 40 Option 2...... 40 Endgame...... 42 Sidebar: Experience Points...... 42 Further Adventures in Dantan . . . 42 Escape from the Underworld...... 42 Rebuilding a Shattered World ...... 42 Rise of the Ancient Ones...... 42 Appendix A: Monsters...... 43 Ancient One...... 43 Ancient One ...... 43 Ancient One Controller...... 44 Ancient One Gn’agn...... 46 Ancient One Psion...... 48 Ancient One Warrior...... 50 Bloated Zhaumspawn ...... 52 Debased Serpentfolk...... 54 Debased Serpentfolk Archer ...... 54 Debased Serpentfolk Warlock ...... 55 Dunkleosteus ...... 56 Gyaa-yothn ...... 57 N’kai Worm ...... 58 Re-Animated ...... 60 Re-Animated Destructor...... 60 Re-Animated Gladiator ...... 62 Swarm of Toad-Bats...... 64 Appendix B: Magic Items...... 65 SampleAgonizer...... 65 file Automatic Crossbow ...... 65 Dematerializer...... 65 Flesh-Sculpting Crystal...... 66 iv Book IV: Lullaby A Mythos adventure for 4 to 5 characters of 11th-14th level

Adventure Synopsis Content Warning This adventure features slavery, mutilation, torture, Our heroes’ quest to stop Tsathoggua by striking at and cannibalism, as the ancient ones of K’n-yan— his lair takes them deep under the earth, into a series the primary antagonists of chapter 1—practice of caverns populated by ancient civilizations and all four. Mention this to your players beforehand, creatures alien to the surface world. First, they must ideally one-on-one, to gauge their comfort levels, make their way through the blue-lit cavern of K’n-yan and work with them to ensure that the story where the golden city of Tsath has devolved into civil you are telling together is one that is fun for war in the aftermath of Tsathoggua’s rampage. The everyone involved. Even in a horror game where ancient ones who dwell there are cruel and hedonis- the PCs may find themselves in mortal peril, the tic, relying on the labor of slaves both living and dead players themselves should feel safe at the table to enjoy a life of luxury and sadistic cruelty. While and comfortable with the game. Don’t prioritize navigating the twisted politics of the Tsathan civil disturbing content over players’ fun. war, the adventurers discover that one faction holds a Various factions of the ancient ones may try powerful weapon in the amphitheater of Tsath. If they to coerce or force the PCs into aiding them. It is can secure this weapon, they may be able to use it to important for both the GM and the players to bear grievously wound Tsathoggua through his network of in mind that the PCs need not do what an NPC asks crystals. of them—allying with villains should always be an After escaping Tsath, the adventurers find a flood- option, never the only choice. ed tunnel which leads to the lower realm of Yoth, but to reach it they must contend with the inhabitants of that dark water. On the red Plains of Yoth, they ics, and the Yog-Sothothery skill from SPCM are discover a massive ziggurat inhabited by the mighty all referenced in this adventure. The player options draconic yothans and their flesh-warped creations. presented in SPCM are well-suited to The Big Sleep At the heart of the ziggurat is a tunnel down to the and provide additional roleplaying opportunities and lowest realm: lightless N’kai. There, amidst a maze evocative details. of obsidian infested with formless spawn and other Throughout this adventure, references are made horrors, the adventurers find Tsathoggua’s lair. By at- to various monsters, NPCs, spells, and magic items. tacking his crystal throne, they can damage Tsathog- Monster and NPC names may appear in bold, while gua from afar, but it won’t be long before the Sleeper spell and magic item names appear in italics. In both arrives to deal with them face-to-face. cases, this is a prompt for you to look up the stat blocks in one of three places: the appendices in the back of this book, in SPCM, or in the Fifth Edition Using This Book System Reference Document or the Fifth Edition Lullaby is the fourth and final book in The Big Sleep, core books. If the reference is to SPCM, it is followed a Saga campaign designed to take parenthetically by SPCM and the page number. If fol- your player characters from level 1 to level 15. This lowed only by a parenthetical page number, it can be act of the adventure takes place across four chapters. found on the appropriate page in the appendices of PCs starting this book at 11th level reach 15th level this book. All other references to monsters, spells, or at its conclusion. Each chapter should take between magic items without such an indication are available one and three gaming sessions, depending on your in the SRD. group’s play style. Milestone Leveling Before running each adventure, you as the gam- emaster should familiarize yourself with the entire The Big Sleep is an adventure that takes your player’s chapter. Sidebars, developer’s notes, and appendices characters from level 1 to level 15. At the end of each at the end of all provide additional context, chapter, the PCs gain enough experience to progress cues, and information to aid you in running The Big to the next level. This keeps the campaign moving Sleep. quickly, allowing everyone to experience the story at This adventure makes extensive use of Sandy a good pace. Petersen’s Cthulhu Mythos for Fifth Edition and Samplehaving a copy of that book is essential to running it. file Monster stat blocks, the dread and insanity mechan-

Lullaby 1 The Subterranean Realms

Deep beneath the lands of Dantan, perhaps ex- ments filled the whole of K’n-yan, but now the ancient tending under other countries as well, lies a world ones have withdrawn to the venerable city of Tsath. of immense, primordial caverns filled with strange and ancient life. These subterranean realms are far The Ancient Ones deeper than any dwarven mine and vaster than the The residents of K’n-yan are known as the ancient largest drow empire. These sunless caverns, each ones (page 43) in the remotest legends of the sur- the size of a continent, are worlds unto themselves, face-dwellers. They are human—or very much accessible only through a few secret passages like humans—but their highly developed psy- so rarely traversed that the surface world is chic abilities give them tremendous power almost unknown to their inhabitants. over matter. They can dissolve and reform matter at will, including their own bodies. K’n-yan Through great effort they can project their bodies to other locations. They can The cavern of K’n-yan is the upper- even de-age themselves, making them most of these three subterranean functionally immortal. realms. The atmosphere is The ancient ones claim to have suffused with a luminous blue been brought to this planet gas that lights everything evenly by Cthulhu, whom they call and continuously. Anything Tulu, in the age before beyond 500 feet is lightly humankind arose. They obscured by this azure haze, lived in K’n-yan for eons and all sight beyond one before venturing to the mile is heavily obscured. surface, possibly seed- The ceiling of the cavern ing the surface world ranges from a few hun- with their descendants. dred feet in places to over Over untold millennia, a mile in height. Cool, they filled K’n-yan with clear rivers crisscross the glittering golden cities, basaltic cavern floor, wa- reached new heights in tering fields of yellow grass science and technology, and tangled, red-leaved and refined their innate vines, bluish flowers, and psychic powers. They even peculiar, black-barked also enslaved millions of evergreen trees. humanoids, performed Aside from misshapen deranged scientific cave fish and the occa- experiments on them, sional insect, the main and devised increas- animal life in K’n-yan is the ingly cruel methods of gyaa-yothn (page 57), a punishment and enter- beast of burden favored by tainment based around the ancient ones. These mutilation and torture. creatures were originally As the immortal ruling reptilian beasts from the caste of the ancient ones land of Yoth that were grew older, they became captured in ancient wars progressively more and hybridized with hedonistic, indolent, and humanoid slaves through sadistic. Relying almost long-forgotten science. entirely on slave labor, they Now they roam K’n-yan in abandoned their wondrous herds, communicating telepath- machines and scientific achieve- ically and responding to the psychic ments, even refraining from the use of their calls of their masters. more strenuous psionic abilities. As their numbers SampleThe landscapes of K’n-yan are dotted with aban- dwindled through attrition, they filewithdrew from their doned cities of the ancient ones, their ruined towers outlying settlements and consolidated in the holy city clad in gold and copper and inscribed with ornate of Tsath. There they live lives of meaningless luxury, and horrific bas reliefs. In eons past, these settle- their every need seen to by psychically controlled, 2 The Subterranean Realms re-animated slaves and the last remnants of their Describing Designer ancient technology. Creatures The chief entertainment takes place in the city’s When designer creatures appear in the adventure amphitheaters, where criminals and re-animated with an associated stat block, they are accompanied slaves are systematically tortured for the sadistic by a description which may not entirely resemble pleasure of the onlookers. The ancient ones also rev- a typical creature of that stat block. For example, el in the worship of horrendous otherworldly entities an encounter may call for “a hulking, muscular such as “Tulu”, Yig, Shub-Niggurath, and , the biped with three-foot scything claws for arms and a “Not-to-Be-Named One”. Most have long since given jagged beak surrounded by wriggling feelers” which up belief in these beings, but they continue perform- uses the owlbear stat block. In such cases, it is ing their foul, orgiastic rites for aesthetic reasons. best never to refer to the creature as an owlbear to your players. The hideous beast described above is laves of the ncients S A mysterious and unknown, while an owlbear may be The ancient ones once maintained a large population well known or even beloved by your players. of humanoid slaves for labor, entertainment, and as a source of meat both for the gyaa-yothn and for them- reinstituted the old rites. ancient one society was too selves. Most of these slaves have long since been apathetic to stop the return of the cult, so the sacrific- converted into the re-animated (SPCM 359). Their es went on unchallenged. When Tsathoggua emerged partial bodies are fused with metal parts and kept through Yoth, the ritual sacrifices guided him to in a state between life and death by means of foul Tsath, which promptly ravaged. This was his last technology and profane magic. Many of them appear meal before flying to the cave ceiling above the city grievously wounded or are missing body parts, their and burrowing up into Hradivaz, where his human preserved flesh having been harvested for consump- cultists had laid the groundwork for his emergence. tion by the ancient ones and their gyaa-yothn mounts. In the aftermath of Tsathoggua’s arrival, the These subtractions are no apparent hinderance to surviving ancient ones descended into civil war. The their labor; even headless slaves toil on as if they Tsathoggua cultists donned green capes and fought were whole. They have been psychically lobotomized, to return all of Tsath to the worship of Tsathoggua. every ounce of independent will drained from them The red-caped “revivalists” argued for a proactive until they are nothing more than living machines. defense, with the goal of re-establishing ancient out- Outsiders to K’n-yan, though rare, almost invariably posts in Yoth and on the surface world to ensure that end up enslaved in this manner. nothing could threaten their civilization from outside A being who is unmade and remade enough times again. The majority fell into the “isolationist” faction, by the ancient ones’ psionic abilities—usually a slave hoping to maintain their seclusion from the worlds or a condemned ancient one—becomes mentally and above and below them, enslaving or killing any physically unstable. These un-men (SPCM 387) take ancient ones who attempt to leave or outsiders who humanoid shape but can morph and distend their entered K’n-yan. Aside from ideology, these three bodies or even dissolve entirely. While some un-men factions also fought over control of the re-animated, continue to be used as slaves by the ancient ones, since Tsathoggua had devoured a sizeable majority most are simply left to roam the empty landscape of of the ancient ones’ valuable laborers in his rampage, K’n-yan. and no ancient one remembers how to live comfort- ably without the constant assistance of their slaves. Tsathoggua Comes to K’n-yan Long ago, Tsathoggua was worshipped among the Yoth pantheon of the ancient ones. His squat, black temple held a place of prominence in the holy city of Tsath, Below K’n-yan lies the realm of Yoth, a similarly so named in his honor. This ended when ancient massive cavern inhabited by primordial monsters, one archaeologists exploring the red caverns of Yoth debased serpentfolk, and flesh-shaping draconic found their way into lightless N’kai, Tsathoggua’s creatures. This land is lit from above by a thick gas realm. There they witnessed quivering black oozes which emits a bright red glow. This gas accretes mindlessly worshipping idols of Tsathoggua. The in massive clouds in the upper reaches of Yoth, sight so repulsed them that they instantly returned to lighting the whole cavern without obscuring it as the Tsath and desecrated the offending temple, re-dedi- blue mist of K’n-yan does. The ceiling of the cavern cating it to Shub-Niggurath. ranges from a few hundred feet to well over a mile But that is not dead which can eternal lie, a truism in height. equally applicable to the Cult of Tsathoggua as it is to Like K’n-yan, Yoth is crossed by many rivers, all of Samplethe ancient ones’ chief deity. There remained among which are fed by waters from the upperfile layers of the the ancient ones a kernel of the Tsathoggua cult, and earth. Many of the rivers which flow through K’n-yan when the time was right, they rose up. Worshipers eventually reach the land of Yoth. These rivers feed of Tsathoggua re-occupied their ancient temple and into a gigantic, slightly saline sea known as the Sea The Subterranean Realms 3 of Yoth or the Crimson Ocean. Both the land and the to stop its flow by repairing the seal over N’kai, but waters of Yoth are home to fearsome beasts, many of nothing has worked so far. The ziggurat’s defenders which are relict populations from prehistoric times or are left to monitor the situation and attack any intrud- were created by the yothans’ flesh-warping technol- ers who threaten to re-open the seal. ogy.

Yothans N’kai Yothans are a primordial race of draconic creatures The lightless realm of N’kai is a vast cavern complex native to Yoth. Though they are few in number now, deeper and older even than Yoth. Little is known they once filled the red-lit cavern with their abun- about it even among the yothans and ancient ones. dance. The Plains of Yoth are dotted with the ruins of It is currently the domain of Tsathoggua and the their titanic cities and fortresses, most of them fallen formless spawn, though certain ruins in its depths to ruin and occupied by a few Yothans, if any. indicate that it was inhabited even before they came. The yothans themselves are quadrupedal reptilians The darkness of N’kai is a force unto itself, stifling ar- with chitinous armored scales, ten eyes, and a beard- tificial light and impeding the vision even of creatures like nest of sensitive feelers on their chins. Their adapted to subterranean life. powerful claws are equally adept at fine manipula- Tsathoggua’s lair is currently in a region of N’kai tion and inflicting grievous wounds. Some yothans called the lightless warrens, a tangled maze of ob- supplement their natural abilities with surgically sidian and toxic sludge. Although the stone of N’kai implanted technological enhancements such as rein- seems solid, its geography is as malleable as the forced teeth or hyperactive venom glands. body of a formless spawn, shifting gradually over the Yothans are malicious and spiteful creatures centuries for reasons unknown to any visitor. that consider all other beings as less worthy than There is little recognizable life in this dark realm, themselves. The best that most intelligent creatures Tsathoggua and the formless spawn having scoured can hope for when interacting with yothans is to be it of edible matter long ago. The formless spawn deemed insufficiently interesting to become fodder and other minions of Tsathoggua lurk hungrily in for one of their biological experiments. its depths, sliding aimlessly along channels of black ichor or tremulously worshiping at the many shrines Designer Creatures of Tsathoggua that dot the landscape, wrought by long-forgotten hands. Yothans use a blend of technology, magic, and innate skill to fuse and transform other creatures in order to create new life. Sometimes this results in a hybrid creature, like a more hideous version of an owlbear or a griffon, but the yothans also use this to create living machines robbed of any autonomy.

Tsathoggua Comes to Yoth Like K’n-yan, Yoth was once home to a thriving Cult of Tsathoggua. Ancient yothans invaded N’kai and returned with countless idols of Tsathoggua carved from primordial black stone. But this worship ended long ago, and if the surviving yothans consider anything to be god-like, it is themselves. When they abandoned Tsathoggua, they sealed the entrances to lightless N’kai with Elder Signs and enclosed them within monumental ziggurats that doubled as yothan fortresses. Over time, all but one of these ziggurats was destroyed or lost. When Tsathoggua awoke, he burst up from N’kai through the last ziggurat, shattering its seal and slaying half of its yothan defenders in one swift battle. He did not tarry long, heading directly for the Sea of Yoth and its secret entrance to K’n-yan. Following in his path, a river of acidic ichor teaming with formless Samplespawn crawled up from N’kai and flowed down the file sides of the ziggurat and into the sea. The purpose of this river of sludge remains unknown, but the surviv- ing yothans are concerned by it. They have attempted

4 The Subterranean Realms Chapter 1: The Cavern of K’n-yan A Cthulhu Mythos adventure for four to five 11th-level characters “Only one of the deep scouts returned. Grugni had escent to sath no wounds, but he was not right in the head. He was D T ranting about a golden city, blue mist, and headless To enter the subterranean realms through which ghosts that flicker like candle flame. I pressed him on Tsathoggua emerged, the PCs must descend the mas- the golden city—gold is what we seek, after all—but sive borehole he left behind. This tunnel is 40 feet in he just screamed and cried, urging us not to seek that diameter and a mile deep. Characters descending at gold again. Strange: Grugni has an old scar over his a speed of 60 feet per round, as is possible with mul- left eye, but I swear it used to be over his right.” tiple castings of feather fall or the fly spell, take 88 - Final report of the 102nd deep-delve prospecting rounds (8 minutes and 48 seconds) to reach the bot- expedition, Woltunn Freeholds tom. Characters descending carefully with a climber’s kit (taking the time to anchor themselves securely dventure ynopsis with pitons) can descend in three and a half hours. At A S the end of such a strenuous climb, characters must Beginning their quest in search of Tsathoggua’s make a DC 16 Strength or Constitution saving throw, dwelling place, our heroes descend the giant hole gaining 1 level of exhaustion on a success or 3 levels he left in the ruins of Hradivaz. They find an ancient of exhaustion on a failure. If a PC is already suffering civilization hidden away in a deep cavern, locked in a from exhaustion before they begin the climb, warn civil war following Tsathoggua’s arrival. The adven- them that such a physical undertaking might be dan- turers must navigate the golden ruins of the city gerously taxing for them. and the machinations of its amoral and hedonistic As the party descends, read or paraphrase the Sampleinhabitants to follow Tsathoggua’s path of destruction following: file back to its source. The borehole is impossibly deep, the air stifling and pungent. The rough walls bear massive gouges from

The Cavern of K’n-yan 5 tearing claws and gnashing teeth. As the circle of The omnipresent blue mist also obscures objects light from above shrinks and disappears, the walls at a distance and limits the range of visibility. Any- seem to close in. It is as if Tsathoggua himself were thing more than 500 feet from the observer is lightly swallowing you. The darkness of that endless de- obscured, while anything more than a mile distant is scent is only broken by the occasional puff of lumi- heavily obscured. nous blue gas which rises from somewhere below. Food and Drink The bottom of the borehole punches through the ceiling of K’n-yan in the center of the ancient one city Outside of the areas under cultivation by the ancient of Tsath. A mountain of rocky rubble rises directly ones, there is little food in K’n-yan. The re-animated below the hole, its summit almost sealing borehole’s slaves of the ancient ones grow vegetable crops in bottom. This creates an uneven, rubble-strewn floor the fields, including greenish potato-like tubers called for the borehole, with only a 15-foot gap open into ythnaar and an orange grain which can be processed K’n-yan. The luminous blue gas of the cavern has into a dense, slightly sweet bread called hal’nor. leaked into the lower reaches of the borehole, dimly The fish that live in the rivers are edible, if largely illuminating the rocky floor. When the PCs look flavorless. Both the ancient ones and their gyaa-yothn through the gap into K’n-yan for the first time, read or mounts eat humanoid flesh harvested from re-ani- paraphrase the following: mated slaves and tortured criminals. This meat is considered a delicacy and makes up a large portion You peer through the rocky crevice into a strange of their diet. new world. The ruins of a gilded city spread out Water is plentiful in K’n-yan thanks to its many sub- below you, the apparent victim of Tsathoggua’s terranean rivers. The ancient ones also enjoy several rampage. Gold-clad spires of overwhelming scale alcoholic and mind-altering beverages. They produce lie toppled like trees after a typhoon. Stately build- a type of strong wine in Tsath that, due to vagaries of ings are rent asunder, their stony innards spilling the fruit and the vinting process, comes in a variety of into rubble-choked avenues. This otherworldly, colors and unusual flavors. shattered metropolis exists inside a cavern so vast it boggles the mind. The atmosphere is limned Treasure with a glowing blue mist that illuminates the en- tire cavern but shrouds distant sights from view. Metals that are precious on the surface world, such Much of the city that was not devoured outright as gold, silver, and copper, have little value to the by Tsathoggua was crushed by the debris from his subterranean ancient ones. Gold is purely decorative tunneling, a mountain of rubble upon which you and is used in vast amounts in the ornamentation of now stand. Tsathoggua’s own path of destruction their buildings. For this reason, gold is ubiquitous is easily visible: a wide rut carved straight through in the ruined city of Tsath. With an hour’s work, a the city as if a massive plow had been driven character can collect 1d6 pounds of gold. One pound through it. You can trace the trail of destruction of gold is worth 50 gp on the surface but has no value out of the city, through mist-shrouded agricultural in K’n-yan. fields and rolling yellow hills, before you lose sight The one metal which the ancient ones do value of it in the azure fog. is a black metal they call “tulu” after their name for Cthulhu. This tulu-metal is extraterrestrial in origin, having been brought to K’n-yan by Cthulhu along with Climbing down the mountain of rubble is time con- the ancient ones in times long since forgotten. Due to suming but not difficult. After an hour of descent, the its finite supply, pure tulu-metal is quite rare, typically PCs arrive in or near the trough carved by Tsathog- used only for idols of Cthulhu himself. In the ancient gua’s passage. past, the people of K’n-yan alloyed tulu-metal with base metals such as iron, gold, and zinc, creating a Adventuring in K’n-yan darkly lustrous and mottled metal used in making coins and prized art objects. Those idols that survive are treated with great reverence by the ancient ones. isibility V Tulu-metal’s most unusual property is its magne- The faintly luminous blue gas which is the natural tism: it does not attract other metals to it, but it does light source of K’n-yan is evenly distributed through- exhibit a weak magnetic attraction to other tulu-metal out the cavern. Without an artificial light source to objects, even alloyed ones. For this reason, a crea- provide direct illumination, there are no shadows. ture bearing a tulu-metal object has advantage on In small spaces, such as alleyways and rooms, there any ability check made to discover other concealed is not enough gas to provide more than dim illumi- tulu-metal objects. Samplenation, so these areas are often fitted with energy One pound of tulu-metal alloy fileis worth 500 gp on globes—ancient one light fixtures that provide bright the surface world. Ancient tulu-coins are about two light in a 30 foot radius and dim light for an addition- inches in diameter and bear ornate images of Yig and al 30 feet. Cthulhu on their faces. These tulu-coins are worth 50 6 The Cavern of K’n-yan