Note: For the map here, I've inverted the "Maintenance Station VIII" map to reflect an example western complex, so the chambers adjoining the wind passages are to the west of the access stairs. Given the module doesn't detail this area at all, I'd assume the lesser circles binding the invisible stalkers are untouched by Tikul's expedition and likely also remain unexplored by the previous band of adventurers in the default "murderhobo" scenario.
The Temptation of Exploring the Wind Walker Passages...
This makes sense given the small size of the module and the mad rush to treasure to the west, but if you think about the symmetry of the complex, the players may well think to head back eastwards looking for the surface via this first maintenance station - after all they *entered* from the equivalent Maintenance Station VII stairs W1, rather than the Terabar terminus's W11 stairs which are buried in the volcanic rockfall.
So what if the party instead decides to look for egress at the westernmost station, rather than simply walk up through the staircase via the intact Rod Room (assuming the murderhobos haven't smashed it for the gem if they are following a prior party which seems highly likely)?
This I think is not an unreasonable course of action based on their limited map.
But there are other good reasons why they may consider this, if not as the first party to move through the complex after Tikul's expedition, but possibly after the murderhobos, or even as part of a much later "Return to the..." style 5E reboot and revisit.
Variant Option: Turning Back at the Forbidden Valley
It's really not that promising an option and may indeed be enough to dissuade them from stepping out into the ash and considering another route if they haven't interpreted Tikul's map correctly or lost it during their travels.
Note that the section of the map shows a stair emerging from the mountains but not directly into the Ash Mire and they may consider it the wrong route without DM nudging. It's not really clear that the map indicates the desert without meta-gaming as they entered via the jungle.
Also, the major landmark for the temple, the tall peak of Yatish d'Ladet is only visible 5 miles distant and is not visible from the exit to the surface - it's not even visible from the opening of the convoluted valley to the main desert and there is a chance the characters would stumble around in the valley's various gorges and lose heart.
Sure, the A2 Ill Met in the Ash Mire encounter with the Hek leader is a triggered event designed to nudge them in the right direction, but if they never venture far enough west or use a create food and/or water (or equivalent later/alternate edition spell) they could technically miss the clue and return back into the complex for shelter and in search of a natural source of water, which is more likely to be found in the mountains or underground. Particularly if they have *lost* their cleric or druid. I mean what idiots wander into an unknown desert without a reliable source of water or significant stores to last their predicted journey.
Remember, one of the key requirements of UK6, mentioned as early as page 2 in bold:
"It is essential that the party contain at least one cleric or druid"
Why is this? Well because in *every* edition of D&D, a "create water" 1st level spell variant is available (except in 2E it's actually a cantrip!). As RPGBot puts it when referencing the related spell purify food and water this is "one of the reasons that...< 5E (and earlier editions / PFRPG) > ... makes a terrible wilderness survival game". I mean, it just takes all the challenge out of resource management if even a beginning party contains a cleric or druid and leaves the ranger with even less to do with the Survival skill.
Admittedly this spell also underscores why such a divine spellcaster is valuable to the Hek and makes an important lever in influencing the party's behaviour if they are kidnapped. I mean the whole area is meant to be desolate and unforgiving, forcing the Hek culture to develop uses for the local flora and develop an almost Fremen-like obsession with water ... create water just seems like a bit of a cheat really.
If we're serious about expanding this module, allowing in some survival aspects seems reasonable.
Addit: I'd also like a cave complex such as a modification of this one at the top of the stairs rather than a simple door that just randomly opens straight onto the desert but that's for another post.
But Wait... No Cleric or Druid?
Even if using original 1E, 5E, or another system, I'd actually suggest encouraging a play through *without* a cleric or druid - as noted above, the potential lack of water becomes a major factor in the journey (and fittingly the disposition of the final treasure). If nothing else, a party with a ranger or a similar themed character with the Survival skill has a chance to let that character shine for once.
LotFP Note: if using my proposed BX/1E system of choice, it's worth commenting that LoTFP clerics do *not* have access to a create water spell. Also, the same system does *not* have druids or rangers even(although you can probably build one using the specialist according to this article). So if using this system, this variance in class design completely changes this 3rd Act of the module into a serious survival adventure! This would require significant rework but expanding on the options of the Ash Mire is one of the secondary goals of this blog...
The Tunnel Leads East...
So the party now has reason to explore along the tunnels eastwards in search of either water, an exit to continue their treasure hunt... or a way home as they have passed westwards through the passages without the correct incense to activate the eastern return route.
Note: as far as they know there are active Pentagular Ward barriers (pages 8-9) and invisible stalkers as discovered earlier in the Terabar Terminus. Or maybe not, after all, it's been hundreds since the passages were built and seismic shifts and the volcanic nature of the mountain ranges may well have disrupted the defenses without affecting the transport functions. There's a faultline to the the immediate west of the Windgate Terminus that has blocked exit through the original entrance hall after all so maybe the stalkers have even escaped - a possibility considered below.
But which passage to take?
The southern passage, just east of W20 would seem the obvious choice as its glassteel hoop is inactive and there is no wind, making it a simple enough journey. The default route through to the Ash Mire is along this way as well and if the characters are turning back, the lack of wind blowing against them likewise favours the southern tunnel. The headwind in the northern tunnel may not be significant physically, but it might seem counterintuitive given the southern tunnel is seemingly intended by original design for the return trip - ironically the lack of distance distortion effect in the latter makes it the longer journey in any case.
The southern passage, just east of W20 would seem the obvious choice as its glassteel hoop is inactive and there is no wind, making it a simple enough journey. The default route through to the Ash Mire is along this way as well and if the characters are turning back, the lack of wind blowing against them likewise favours the southern tunnel. The headwind in the northern tunnel may not be significant physically, but it might seem counterintuitive given the southern tunnel is seemingly intended by original design for the return trip - ironically the lack of distance distortion effect in the latter makes it the longer journey in any case.
Also, if the party thinks to search for incense for the return, they may reason that it is more likely to be found along the return route and/or there is a fail-safe system or cache of the material despite little evidence of a correlate of this in the eastern end of the complex.
Regardless of which tunnel is chosen, the party will eventually reach the lesser circles of Maintenance Sation I after 5 miles of travel through the completely lightless southern tunnel assuming the original distance of the tunnel is 80 miles - this takes about a day of subterranean travel, ample opportunity for an interesting encounter or two, whether living or more of a geographic hazard.
Note: given the canonised version of the module is located spanning the Hellfurnances, the distance could be increased by a factor of 3 to 15 miles ie 2-3 days travel depending on terrain which makes the trip potenitally more likely to have an encounter of interest. This also applies to the original journey from area W3 to either W17 or W18 at the Terabar Terminus.
The following insert about Underdark travel is from the 5E product Out of the Abyss, page 18 - in fact Chapter 2: Into Darkness of this hardback has some useful rules for for such travel:
Technically the northern tunnel, retaining its distance distortion effect unless interrupted by the party or perhaps the preceding murderhobos, is shorter and takes one less day to traverse.
Although the included map in UK6 implies the passages are a smooth 30' wide (well, at least near the termini and maintenance stations), I propose that they may not be as well finished throughout their length and indeed their builders may have in places co-opted existing *natural* tunnels and caverns for long sections. There is also nothing to say that the passages are completely straight or maintain the same depth uniformly other than the stylised fresco plan at the termini.
For the sake of interest ad variety, I'd like to think that small seismic shifts, water, and perhaps even the influence of intersecting subterranean creatures have influenced their outline into having a more natural contour in places, such as these two fairly straight examples of "Primary Passages" from Dyson Logos:
Although there are 5 examples in the original post, I picked these two sections as they are relatively straight and uninterrupted for the passage of the gaseous travellers, albeit the lower tunnel has columns around which the airy form of the traveller could be blown in an eddy, so perhaps the other examples are appropriate after all.
These sections lack side passages or evidence of habitation as they are meant to be uninterrupted prisons for the summoned invisible stalkers that guard the sections, bound by the Pentagular Wards and the Rod Rooms... but over time, the passages may have been ruptured by all manner of burrowing creatures of various sizes and/or humanoids mining across or down into the tunnels. Sure larger tunnels that would allow the escape of the stalkers may not have occurred, but smaller passages left by Underdark vermin such as burrowing insects, jermelaine, and various oozes would still fit with the original descriptions...
The original module text spends a lot of time describing the complex and the technology used to sustain the transport system but lacks any comment other than the main tunnels are relatively unaffected by the seismic activity of the region. I note however that there are no specific magics to make the tunnels impenetrable, and a pierced or partly collapsed tunnel is still fully usable to a gaseous traveller who is unable to be affected as they are blown westwards.
However, for a traveller on foot, the presence of obstructions, hazards, side passages and perhaps even inhabitants in the tunnels is a different story indeed, creating the potential to expand on this section of the journey...
Thoughts on the Terabar Terminus...
Most of the suggestions and comments above that can be used for the attempt at exit through Maintenance Station I apply to a section earlier in the module - the initial journey again eastwards along the tunnels W8 and W9 from the easternmost station to the destroyed Terabar Terminus.
In fact, given the closer proximity to Mountt Gegesti, the broken lesser circle freeing the invisible stalker, and the lack of the distance distortion effect, there is likely to be more chance that the inactive southern passage has been disrupted by seismic events, volcanic activity or the burrowing of subterranean creatures. Sure, the hellcat is meant to guard this route but, it's unlikely to be able to stop some of the larger creatures or groups. Once the murderhobos have made their way through and presumably slain it, the tunnel is open as a potential part of an underground trade route or territory.
Some suggested random encounters in this section include:
- Derro slavers and albino apelings
- Partial cave-in turning the passage into a squeeze
- Drow caravan using the tunnel as a short cut highway
- Purple worm borrowings but no worm to be seen
- Interruption by a small lava lake or falling magma column with lava children
- Giant centipede colony
- A Jermelaine nest
- A chasm bisecting the passage completely needs to be crossed
- Grimlock raiding party
- Salamanders
- Hook horrors and/or dire corbies
- Grell
- The devil's original basecamp and egress into the passages
However, I wonder if in some of the stations the stairwell climbs both *upwards* towards an outpost with an aerial dock on the side of one of the Hadarna Mountains slopes and another *downwards* towards a series of tunnels possibly linking into the derro settlement, from which the lesser derro ancestors of the Hek fled westwards and then into the Ash Mire following the Cataclysm...
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