“We live in the
flicker – may it last as long as the old earth keeps rolling! But darkness was
here yesterday.”
― Joseph Conrad, Heart of Darkness
“Yeah. I guess I
gotta find my own way.”
– Luke, ‘Cool Hand Luke’
 |
| C1 The Hidden Shrine of Tamoachan |
A full moon rises,
sending moonbeams and ghostly shadows to flicker through the branches. Ahead in
the woods a light glows and seems to beckon – perhaps a shelter for the night.
Though thorns tear and impede your progress the source of illumination is
reached at last. Before you is a clearing. There is an ancient ruin – a worn
and overgrown pyramid fills the courtyard, shining in the moonlight, seeming
almost brighter than the moon itself. A refuge? Perhaps; tomorrow with daylight
the party may explore, but tonight you must have rest. [C1 The Hidden
Shrine of Tamoachan – 2]
Lost! Breathless! Chased by distant shouts! One wonders
what the PCs must have done to warrant the dire straits they find themselves in
at the onset of The Hidden Shrine of
Tamoachan.
Sadly, few experienced the events leading up to the
beginning of the adventure. They were never meant to, either, as this was an
early tournament module, first unveiled at the 1979 Origins International Game
Expo (Origins ’79), and designed for play in a set timespan, to accommodate the
needs of the convention hosting it and not the adventure itself.
I’m of mixed mind concerning tournament modules. They
serve a purpose: So many encounters, so many traps, so many puzzles. Most
tournaments seem forced to me, but this one doesn’t. It’s supposed to feel
rushed, for reasons I will cover later.
It does not have to be, of course. There is an extensive
backstory, easily (if laboriously) fleshed out into a far larger campaign, if
you would prefer that. Imagine Cool Hand
Luke, First Blood, and Heart of Darkness for inspiration. I
feel excited just thinking about it. However, that possibility is not within
the scope of this review.
As far as the published module is concerned, its introduction
far more cinematic than most, and it has pre-gens that have a fully realized
backstory. That is/was unusual. Most pre-gens were mere stat blocks with the
unlikely, and whimsical, names of Fonkin Hoddypeak, Beek Gwenders, and Gleep
Wurp the Eyebiter. Their backstories were no more detailed than the vague: a party of the bravest and most powerful
adventurers has been assembled and given the charge to punish the miscreant
giants. [G1- 2]
 |
| Rhialle, Cair, and Myrrha |
There are three:
Cair, a magic-user and thief by trade, with a price on his head: Myrrha, a
banished cleric who seeks escape from her former colleagues: and Rhialle, a
barbarian fighter, outcast of his people. In recent weeks past, Rhialle and
Myrrha helped Cair escape the clutches of bounty hunters, and thus became fair
prey as accomplices. Taking passage on a ship faring south the party had
thought to evade the hunters, but the persistent trackers followed in a hired
ship. In final desperation the party had abandoned their vessel for the wild
jungles of the savage land. [C1 – 2]
If that wasn’t enough for you, they are presented in far
greater detail at the end of the module (where most pre-gens usually reside.
 |
| Cair |
Rittorch, a kindly
scholar, noticed the quick hands and wits of Cair and took him into service as
a helper and apprentice. Rittarch was a dabbler in the lesser arcane arts of
low magic, and Cair learned certain skills and arts that a noble's formal
education could not have afforded him. In fact, he learned more than Rittorch
thought he was teaching the young lad. Meanwhile, Cair continued his stealthy
thieving at night.
Rittorch grew
careless as he grew old, and one evening he omitted one-and-a-half crucial
passes from the Rite of the Winds of Time and was filled with the spirit of a
crazed devil. The old man attacked Cair in a maniacal frenzy, and the young
thief was forced to kill his master in self-defense. Unfortunately, the city
guard, who wanted to ask Cair some questions about a missing necklace, took
that moment to enter and find him standing over Rittorch's crumpled form with a
dripping blade. Though pierced by two crossbow bolts, Cair managed to make good
his escape, and now flees the bounty hunters who pursue him for the price on
his head. [C1 – 29]
 |
| Myrrha, Rhialle, and Cair |
Eventually a new
Archon mounted the throne in Pontylver, one who claimed Alia as her patron. The
Temple of the Correct and Unalterable Way grew in followers and prestige, and
as time passed, Myrrha noticed that her peers and superiors were becoming
increasingly arrogant and arbitrary. Their pronouncements came to be regarded
as law, and they began to see themselves as the ultimate arbiters of justice.
Myrrha saw that they were falling into the heresy of believing that law is
concentrated in the individual and not the community. Investigating, she
discovered a well-kept secret: many members of the ecclesiarchy were no longer
able to cast high-level spells, thus proving their estrangement from their
deity! At last, Myrrha attempted to speak out against the heterodox clergy and
reveal their fall from divine grace, but the forces of the ecclesiarchs
prevented her from doing so, and she was fortunate to escape the city with her
life.
Now she serves
Stern Alia alone, until she can locate other faithful disciples or somehow find
the money to finance a parish of her own. A landless barbarian is now her only
companion, on exile from his own people too, and a kindred, if misguided soul.
[C1 – 27]
RHIALLE is a native from the barbarian tribes of the Olman Islands, where he
was trained as a youth in the arts of war. His training was cut short at the
age of 15 when he was determined to be a Chosen One by the shamans of his
tribe. Each year, the Olman nations select one youth of perfect body to be the
Guesa, the Chosen One of the Sky Gods. However, Rhialle did not care to meet
the Sky Gods by way of the shaman's sacrificial knife, so he fled the Olmans
and the wrath of his deities.
Rhialle came to the
mainland cities and took up the profession of sellsword; a bodyguard to
nobility or a mercenary in wars. He does not stay in one place too long,
because he doesn't care for civilization, and because wherever he goes, bad
luck seems to follow. Superstitiously, Rhialle believes this ill luck to be the
work of the Sky Gods, and so he continues to wander, searching far a place where
he can be free from their vengeance.
On one occasion he
struck up a surreptitious friendship with an urchin thief in a port town. Years
later, he stumbled upon his old friend hanging onto his life by a thread.
Without a second thought, he charged to the rescue. Now he finds himself
fleeing to save his own life.
Rhialle has never
told anyone about his ordeal with the shamen, but has let it be believed that
he was exiled because of his desire to taste the pleasures and wealth of
civilization. Still he misses his people and longs to be reunited with them. [C1
– 27]
That is a ton of exposition for a tournament module.
What can we glean from all this?
The characters are not evil. Cair the Apprentice is True
Neutral; Myrrha the Disgraced is Lawful Neutral; and Rhialle the Wanderer is
Neutral Good.
It appears that Myrrha and Rhialle have chosen to stand
by their friend, when they could have stood aside and let Cair meet his fate.
They didn’t. They’ve shown unparalleled loyalty and have even gone on the lam
with him.
 |
| The Amedian Shore |
 |
| The Pyramid-Temple |
The sun has risen,
and after hasty counsel and preparation the party gathers up their equipment
and starts towards the pyramid-temple. You tread carefully across cracked and
overgrown flagstones, stepping over fallen and shattered pillars, pushing aside
vines and briars. As the party approaches the temple the sound of crashing
through the underbrush comes from behind you. Turning around, the party
glimpses men moving through the woods towards the clearing. Then the earth
shudders and gapes open beneath the party's feet and you are falling amidst the
roar of collapsing masonry. Dust fills the air and the sunlight disappears as
the darkness swallows you. [C1 – 2]
Some might consider their unexpected plunge a stroke of
good luck. The stern Onnwallian bounty hunters were within sight of them then,
at the break of dawn, and our heroes would surely have had to put their
pursuers to the sword to escape their clutches, something Lawful Myrrah might
take exception to. However, fate had intervened, at a crucial moment, I might
add. Perhaps Stern Alia had taken a hand, after all.
Nevertheless, I wouldn’t count my lucky stars, yet, if I
were our heroes….
Rhialle, the
barbarian, sits quietly, nose raised, sniffing carefully: after a moment, his
fears confirmed, he informs the other two: "The air in this place is bad,
poisonous. I fear that if we are still entombed in this place an hour from now,
we shall never leave." [C1 – 4]
Our heroes have gone from the frying pan to the fire, it
would seem.
[The] lower levels
are filled with poisonous gas. This includes the rooms and passages from
encounter areas #1 through #38. A character will suffer 1-6 hit paints of
damage for every turn spent in the gas. A neutralize poison will reduce damage
fa hall for 1 turn. II the character remains in the gas the next turn, normal
damage will accrue. A slow poison will reduce damage to 1 point per turn for
the duration of the spell. II the characters are still exposed to the gas when
the spell ends, they will suffer the remaining damage accumulated from past turns.
[…] The gas is a thick amber color and affects name, causing it to sputter and
glow redly only a pale ember of itself. Any light source caused by fire will
have an effective range of only 10'. [C1 – 3]
That is one way to light a fire under the players.
You don’t have to poison the PCs, if you would rather
not. It was only for tournament use, after all; but I would recommend leaving
it in play, albeit toned down some to only 1 hp damage per turn, negated on a
save. Even with that level of reduced poisoning the players will feel pressured
to press on, and they may get sloppy in their panic to be free of certain death
because of it. Nothing motivates players more than certain death. They will
certainly not dally, spending what precious little time left to them searching
rooms for treasure.
Tick tock, tick tock, tick tock….
By the way, the PCs had better have some sort of light
available to them at the onset, or this will be a real short adventure.
Rhialle is invaluable. These are a tomb of his Olman
ancestors—think Mesoamerican, the Greyhawk equivalent—and in that regard, if he
is not present, and no character reads and writes Olman, or has a lot of
read/comprehend language spells handy, much of the story will be lost. I
suppose that is why it’s preferable that the pre-gens be played. After all, who
speaks Olman, anyway? Rhialle does, that’s who. I doubt most PCs will have
“wasted” a language on it, unless the campaign was always centered on the
Amedio.
It speaks the old
native tongue, Olman. [C1 – 6]
The ancient glyphs
are scribed in Olman and it anyone in the party can comprehend this tongue, or
if the message can be understood by other means, the glyphs will translate as…
[C1 – 6]
Descriptions are as one might, and should expect,
considering its locale. The walls are dripping with lime, and burn to touch.
The floors slimy and slippery, the water brackish. Doors swelled, seized by the
silt. All in all, passage will be a challenge.
The walls are wet
and slimy and mud covers most of the floor in a thin coating. [C1 – 3]
The bottom of the
stairwell is filled with silt which blocks the door. [C1 – 6]
A muddy stream
trickles tram beneath the north side of this door and flows down the hallway.
[C1 – 6]
The walls of this
corridor are wet and slimy. The stucco covering has become saturated with water
and is decomposing and sloughing off in spots on the southern wall, exposing
the seams alone of the large stone blocks from which this structure was built.
[C1 – 6]
Water beads collect
upon the walls of this narrow passage and the flooring is cold and damp.
[C1 – 8]
 |
| The Sacred Offspring of Chitza-Atlan |
I have to say that the rooms have evocative names, few
declared unless someone can read Olman:
The Sepulcher
of Tloques-popolocas Yohualli-Ehecatl; The Court of Cemanahuac; The
Child of Zotzilaha; The Spirit Guard of Ayocuan; The Chamber of the Nacehual.
The list goes on. They’re just window-dressing, though, tongue twisters to
amuse and little else.
It takes a few reads to understand some of the text, or
should I say, it took me a while to digest all that was written. I found a fair
bit of it confusing, so, I would recommend quiet while doing so, and no
distractions.
Point in case:
In room 9: Once the
statue has fallen it will reveal a narrow passage hidden behind it, 4' above
the floor. [C1 – 8]
Yet the same secret passage is written thus in room 10: The western entrance, hidden by the statue,
will appear to be a blank wall from within the passage. This portal may only be
opened from the inside by releasing a concealed catch at the intersection of
the wall and ceiling. [C1 – 8]
You’ll have to refer to the map given often, when it
becomes obvious that the passage is only accessible from room 9.
Is there a story here? There might be one, hidden in the
mind of the designer, but I cannot fathom it. I expect most encounters are
adapted from Mesoamerican mythology, but I only have passing familiarity with
it, so I cannot comment one way or the other. The Hidden Shrine feels less like
a shrine than a tomb, one with more monsters than were in Tomb of Horrors, to say nothing of the inexplicable, and sometimes
impossible things in the adventure. You may brush my complaint aside, and say, magic, or it’s D&D, but I expect better reasoning now in my middle years,
even if all modules used to be peppered with such things back in the day, when
I took those things for granted, and didn’t bat an eye at how ridiculous they
could be. I’ve aged since then. I’m far more critical. My suspension of
disbelief comes at a higher price now.
Take this passage as an example:
 |
| Xipe, the Ogre Mage |
These days, I would wonder, shouldn’t this creature be an efreet? And, who lit the coals? Have they been burning forever? in this sunken, and sealed, tomb. Other
questions that come to mind are, why
should they be lit, and why have they
not been consumed in the prior 500 years? It turns out the ogrish creature is an ogre
mage. The question becomes, how has he
survived in this desolate place?
They normally seek
uninhabited places in which to lair - typically in a fortified dwelling or some
secure cavern complex below ground. From this location, the ogre magi will
foray to capture treasure and humans for slaves and food. [MM1e – 76]
Yet this ogre magi doesn’t seem to crave either.
Anything tossed
into this "Well of Wisdom" will cause flaming lights to roar upwards
and a voice (in ogre) will make an inquiring speech. The voice belongs to Xipe,
of course, and he is asking who it is and what they want. Nothing more will
happen other than the inquiring voice, for Xipe will not be bothered to leave
his lair in the ceiling to investigate. [C1 – 17]
A great many other creatures exist in the Shrine without
possibility of sustenance.
Another is the CHAMBER of the NACEHUAL, where two monks
repose in suspended animation. Lord knows how they got there, or why, except
insofar as they desired their long/glorious
… end/sleep. They are perturbed if disturbed, and you must pay/repent for
having done so. Apparently, the cost is payment
of 500 g.p. or one magic item of value as forfeiture. If the two monks are not
paid or if the party attempts to harm them while they lie on the couches the
monks will attack in return. If questioned about the ruins, they know nothing
to tell, save the message concerning the rain of fire, for their sleep has been
long indeed. [C1 – 12]
Lethargy seems to have erased their memory.
The heroes don’t need to enter the tomb in the
traditional tournament method in campaign play. They could stumble upon the
ruined city and discover the temple in due course, and, presumably, find the
Temple Ruin (room 54) and play the module in “reverse.”
Most of the city is
toppled and almost completely covered in undergrowth. Intruders into the ruins
will discover that the ancient streets now make overgown "valleys"
between the debris of the crumbled buildings. The largest of these valleys all
lead to the central clearing of the pyramid. [C1- 2]
 |
| Welcome to the Jungle.... |
I1 Dwellers of the
Forbidden City would be an excellent template for fleshing out the ruined
city if you were inclined to doing that. Tomb of Annihilation [5e] might be equally useful. Come to think on it,
so would X1 Isle of Dread and WG6 Isle of the Ape.
Other resources include:
The
Bullywug Gambit, Dungeon #140
The Sea
Wyvern’s Wake, Dungeon #141
Here There
Be Monsters, Dungeon #142
Tides of
Dread, Dungeon #143
City of
Broken Idols, Dungeon #145
Am I a fan of this module? Not particularly. I like
aspects of it: the ruined city, the tomb beneath the temple, the Olman
Mesoamerican alien-ness of it. I do like a lot of the rooms. But I think it
ought to be more Tomb of Horrors-esque.
It is somewhat teeming with undead, as it should be. The edition of
Tloques-popalocas is brilliant, in my opinion. So too the mummified sacred
offspring of Chitza-Atlan, the guardian of the gateway to the underworld.
I am not a fan of the Roost of the Conch. I’m not a fan
of any encounter that invalidates the sacred guardian’s vigil.
This mummy has two
functions: to prevent any but the dead from entering these ruins, and to keep
those creatures in the ruins confined within. [C1 – 22]
How did they get in there?
Granted, you could repopulate it. I would, but I would
likely remap it, too; but that’s me. I prefer campaign play to tournament play.
And, don't you see,
the terror of the position was not in being knocked on the head - though I had
a very lively sense of that danger, too - but in this, that I had to deal with
a being to whom I could not appeal in the name of anything high or low.”
― Joseph Conrad, Heart of Darkness
“What we’ve got
here is failure to communicate.”
– Captain, ‘Cool Hand Luke’
One must always
give credit where credit is due. This post is made possible primarily by the
Imaginings of Gary Gygax and his Old Guard, Lenard Lakofka among them, and the
new old guards, Carl Sargant, James Ward, Roger E. Moore. And Erik Mona, Gary
Holian, Sean Reynolds, Frederick Weining. The list is interminable.
The Art:
C1 The Hidden Shrine of Tamoachan cover, by Erol Otus, 1981
C1 The Hidden Shrine of Tamoachan monochrome cover, by Erol Otus, 1980
C1 The Hidden Shrine of Tamoachan back cover, by Gregory K Fleming, 1981
C1 The Hidden Shrine of Tamoachan monochrome back cover, by Erol Otus, 1980
Map detail, by Mike Schley, from Dungeon magazine # 209, 2012
Dungeon #209 map detail, by Mike Schley, 2012
Giant Spider, by Erol Otus, from C1 The Hidden Shrine of Tamoachan, 1980
The Sacred Offspring of Chitza-Atlan, by Scott Altmann, from Dungeon magazine # 209, 2012
Map detail, by Mike Schley, from Dungeon magazine # 209, 2012
Sources:
1015
World of Greyhawk Boxed Set, 1983
9038
C1 The Hidden Shrine of Tamoachan, 1980,1981
Dungeon Magazine 209, 2012
Greyhawkania, Jason Zavoda
The map of Anna B. Meyer
