When the party enters this room there is a
25% chance that they will be sighted by the
overseers and several will MOVE to investigate
the visitors.

This AREA is used for holding and displaying
slaves. Newly acquired slaves are
brought in and fed nourishing food and
<pickles, ale, broth, prunes>
given plenty of water to restore their health
and appearance after the long journey from
their homeland. They are then sold to various
slave merchants who transport the
slaves to different markets and sell them.

28a. & b. Safe Cells
-

These cells are 20' square and are  filled with slaves. The slaves appear listless and apathetic.

These cells hold slaves who have already
been purchased by slave merchants. They
have regained their healthy appearance and
have spent 24 hours in the cloaker’s room on
the fort level to make them docile and easy
to manage on the trip to the market. The
slaves remain mind-numb for 1 week.

a. This cell contains 8 women, 7
men, 3 male olvenfolk, and 2 dwur
who have had their beards shaved off.

b. This cell holds 6 women, 10 men, 2
hobbit males, 1 hobbit female, and a
half-orc. The hobbit female is deaf and was
unaffected by the cloaker but is playing
dumb. She witnessed the cavelings stealing
a girl and will inform the adventurers if they
find a way to communicate with her.

28c. Caveling Temple
This cell is similar to the other 2 next
to it, but there are no slaves in it. Instead
in the center of the floor a white circle
has been drawn and in the center of the
circle is a stone, 5 feet tall, vaguely
resembling a woman standing, facing the
back wall with her left arm raised. The
back wall has a hole torn in it, and
beyond this opening is darkness. Beside
the hole is a large, muddy pile of rags.

This is the cell where Markessa places her
unsuccessful experiments. These creatures
have widened a crack in the northern wall
that leads into a series of caves and
Markessa has permitted them to live there
as the cell is not suitable for holding marketable
slaves. She calls her creations ”cavelings”
and these creatures in their madness
call Markessa a god and have fashioned by
hand a crude idol of her. Only the face of
this statue vaguely resembles her, but she
has been given a set of fangs, a serpent for a
tongue, and worms for eyes.

The pile of rags beside the cave entrance is
a crippled caveling known as Mouth,
because only he remembers the tongue of
the outside world. Mouth has no legs, but
his arms are 4 feet long and he has two
opposable thumbs on each hand and can
walk swiftly on his hands. Mouth will stir
himself if characters approach him and ask
in a gravel voice, ”Be ye the thrice curst messengers?
Woe to the world now!” He will
then break into a lament. Mouth is slow-witted
and will not offer any real information,
but will spit on each character as he or
she enters the caves. Mouth is the warning
system for the cavelings that intruders are
about. He sounds the WARNING with a loud
hooting.

The cavelings have managed to loosen
one of the bars to cell 28b and can slide it
aside to enter the safe cell. Periodically, they
will sneak out of their caves and steal 1 of
the slaves to carry back into the cave to eat.

Mouth: AC 9; MV 9”; HD 1; hp 5; #AT nil
THACO 19
XP 15

The Caves
Here is a series of caves and winding tunnels.
They are pitch black and the air is
cool and damp. <temperature = x>

There is no light throughout these caves
and characters without infravision or a light source
will fight at -4 to hit. The caves and
tunnels meander and form a labyrinth.
There are stone ledges, stalagmites forming
pillars, and trickles of mineral water forming
slick patches. These caves are inhabited
by the cavelings and other cave-dwelling
creatures as well. The DM should check
once every 2 turns of travel for an
encounter (1 on 1d10).

Caves Wandering Encounters
(roll 1d12)
-

1.	Caveling (DMs creation)
2.	Become lost/reach a dead end
3.	Cave beetle (1; AC 5; MV 12”; HD 2+2; #AT 1; D 1-6) (THACO 16, XP 35 + 3/hp)
4.	Pit fall (1d4 points of damage if not detected)
5.	Dripping water (drinkable on a roll of 1-4 on 1d6)
6.	Giants rats (2-5; AC 7; MV 12"; HD 1/2; #AT 1; D 1-3) (THACO 20n1)
7.	Giant centipedes (1-4; AC 9; MV 15"; HD 1/4; #AT 1; D poison) (THACO 20n1)
8.	Sound is heard (DM's creation--sound may lead the party to an encounter or to a trap)
9.	Fungus (edible on a roll of 1-2 on 1d6) <Fungus Identification>
10.	Stone chips (might be used as tools or weapons)
11.	Cave spider (1-2; AC 8; MV 6"/15"; HD 1+1; #AT 1; D 1 plus Poison, save at +2) (THACO 18, XP 65 + 2/hp)
12.	Cave lizard (1; AC 5; MV 15"; HD 3+1; #AT 1; D 1-8) (THACO 16, 60 + 4/hp)

The cavelings have formed their own
society within these caverns and live in different
caves, 1 for each tribe. Most cavelings
are insane and any children they have
had, they have raised insane. Since most of
the cavelings come from lawful races, they
have reorganized themselves as 1 people
where it is normal to be insane.

Each caveling tribe selves a purpose in the
community. There is the tribe of Leaders,
who help decide how new arrivals should be
treated and direct the activities of the others.
There is the tribe of Warriors who practice
mock combats and are supposed to
defend the cavelings from slavers and go on
raids to the safe cell (28b). The Workers
build things and gather fungus, water and
small insects. The Hunters hunt cave beetles,
spiders, and the feared cave lizard. And
the Thinkers are teachers and priests and
help doctor wounded cavelings and make
cavelings out of the children.

Insanity is also on a tribal basis with the
affliction helping to determine which tribe a
caveling will become a member of. For
example: Warriors might be homicidal maniacs,
while Leaders might be suffering
from megalomania. The DM should select
the insanities and will find details in the
Dungeon Masters Guide, pages 83-84.

The bodies of the cavelings are horribly
twisted and distorted as a result of Markessa’s
”improvements” and they are not recognizable
as their original race. The DM
should determine how a specific caveling
has been modified. Some of the changes are
useful, such as the ability to climb walls, <Climbing, SG>
infravision, clawed hands, and so forth.
while others are only grotesque.

Communication with cavelings will be
difficult, because their language consists of
guttural grunts and shrieks.

When cavelings are first encountered they
will be curious, but cautious. If the cavelings’
reaction is friendly they will try to
amuse the newcomers with songs, dances,
tricks, and by throwing gifts of fungus or
smooth stones at them. These actions may
appear hostile to the party, but if no hostile
action is taken in return, the party will be
deemed friendly and the cavelings will grab
the hands of the characters and drag them to
the Leaders’ cave.

If the Leaders determine the characters
are not the Messengers of Light they await,
they welcome them as fellow cavelings and
set a feast of fungus, puffballs, spider meat,
dried roaches, and fermented beetle juice. <Effects of Alcohol and Drugs, DMG>
The beetle juice is very intoxicating and
characters imbibing must save vs. Poison or
become drunk and slow-witted. Drunk
characters fight at -2 to hit and damage.
There will be much dancing and hooting
and then the Thinkers will be sent for to
make the newcomers into cavelings. To
make a caveling the Thinkers attempt to
surgically alter the form of the character. A
character must make a system shock roll to
survive the completed operation.

Typical caveling: AC 10; MV 12”; HD 1, 2
or 3; #AT 1; D rock 3-4 or stone club 3-8
<1 HD, THACO 19, XP 14 +1/hp>
<2 HD, THACO 16, XP 28 + 2/hp>
<3 HD, THACO 16, XP 50 + 3/hp>

I. Workers’ Cave: In this cave live 23
workers. At present only 4 workers are
in the cave. 2 have large ears and no
eyes. Another has squat arms and legs, and
prehensile toes and can climb walls well. <Climb, SG>
She 4th caveling is known as the Rat
Master and he has infravision, thin clawed
hands, whiskers, and long bare tail. The Rat
Master can TALK to rats and command them
to go out and forage for him. This has
gained him much prestige with the cavelings.
He is talking to 2 giant rats at
present. He has a rusty dagger.

Rat master: AC 9 due to Dexterity; MV 12";
HD 1; hp 5; #AT 1; D 1-4
THACO 19
XP 15

Giant rats: AC 7; MV 12"; HD 1/2; #AT 1; D 1-3
THACO 20n1
THACO 7 + 1/hp

II. Hunters’ Cave: In this cave live 12
hunters. They are grunting and hooting as
they attack 2 cave beetles they have
herded back to the cave. The chief Hunter is
Raker. Raker has three legs set in a tripod
pattern. He also has four 2-foot-long spines
on the back of both arms.

Raker: AC 8 due to Dexterity; MV 15“;
HD 2; hp 9; #AT 1: D 1-4 with the spines
on one arm

III. Thinkers’ Cave: There are 9 thinkers
in this cave. There is also 1 warrior
and the caveling ruler herself. They are
probing and poking a terrified girl with
blonde hair. The caveling ruler suffers from
the delusion that she is the living form of
Markessa and is called the Inner Markessa.
She hates all intruders and fears they want
to take her power away. This girl looks too
much like Markessa to her and she wants
her destroyed as a false god. The Thinkers
are examining this demand. Inner Markessa
has only 3 fingers on each hand, long
thin legs, and fangs. She is wearing a breastplate
made of stone plates. Jabber, her lover,
has a mouth 6 inches wide with a froglike
tongue, and is missing one hand which has
been replaced by a bony, spearlike growth.

Inner Markessa: AC 6; MV 12"; HD 2; hp 7;
#AT 1; D 1-2 bite
THACO 16
XP 34

Jabber: AC 10; MV 12"; HD 3; hp 18;
#AT 1; D 1-6
THACO 16
XP 89

IV. Warriors‘ Cave: There are 5 warriors
in this room, while 6 more are out
with the workers protecting them from
harm. Snatcher is the head warrior and has
4r arms. However, 1 of the extra arms
is withered and useless. These warriors are
making stone clubs by chipping and shaping
broken stalactites.

Snatcher: AC 9 due to Dexterity; MV 9”;
HD 3; hp 20; #AT 2; D 3-8 each
THACO 16
XP 95

V. Leaders’ Cave: There are 4 leaders
all sitting around in this cave. Though all
consider themselves leader, they all accept
Whisper as their spokesman. Whisper has
an enlarged head, a small sphincter-like
mouth and tentacles with suckers instead of
arms. Whisper speaks in barely audible
whispers but can communicate with any
creature telepathically.

If outsiders are brought before them the
leaders ask a series of rambling questions
through Whisper. There is a caveling lejend
that states that the gods will one day send
Messengers of Light to destroy the evil
Outer Markessa and lead the cavelings back
to the “Bright Place,” the surface world. If
the party can somehow prove they are the
messengers, it is likely that they can lead a
caveling revolt against the slavers.

Whisper: AC 10; MV 12”; HD 2; hp 7; #AT 2:
D 1-3 each
THACO 16
XP 34

28d-u. Slave Cells
The slaves in these cells have not yet had
their spirits broken. They are afraid, but
can be talked into revolt and escape. 1/4
of the slaves can FIGHT. The rest of the
slaves are either too young, too old, |or|
haven’t the inclination, skill or knowledge
for fighting. The slaves are of assorted age,
race and sex. Some of the slaves' personalities
are described below and the DM may
use them as models for other slaves.

Slaves: AC 10; MV 9”; LVL 0; hp 4 each;
#AT 1; D by weapon or 1
THACO 20n1
XP 9

d. 3 women, one of whom is bald.

e. 5 olvenfolk, 1 a pregnant woman.

f. 6 men. 1 is pot-bellied and gray.
He is a merchant who will gladly pay a
ransom of 300 pp if returned to his
home in the southwest. He cares only <The Yeomanry?>
for himself and his own well-being.

g. 8 children: 3 are olven, 4 are
human, and one is a hobniz. 1 fair-haired
boy, who is looking after 1 of
the smaller children, is the nephew of a
duke in the north. <Perrenland>

h. 6 women, all human and strong
workers.

i. 3 hobniz and a noniz who has
been badly beaten.

j. 7 men. 1 claims to own land in
a northern province and says that if he <Bandit Kingdoms>
is returned he will pay each as much
treasure as they can carry. The man is a
bandit chieftain.

k. 2 very powerful, nasty looking
men.

1. 3 women and 4 human children.

m. 5 men and 1 male hobniz. 1 of
the men is looking to win the favor of
the overseers and will call out to them
about any rescue attempts.

n. 3 dwur tied back to back in the
center of the cell.

o. 8 hobniz, 3 are female.

p. 4 men all middle-aged.

q. 10 children, mostly teenaged girls.

r. 6 olvenfolk, 2 are children.

s. 3 men and a woman. The woman
is desperate to survive and return home
and is prepared to do whatever is necessary
to reach that goal.

t. 1 lithe, limber-looking man is sitting,
bound, in the center of the cell. In
fact, he is a Novice.

u. 1 man and 3 women; all look
very barbaric. <Barbarian, UA>

28v. Overseers’ Office
Stairs lead up to this platform. There are
7 overseers. 5 are High Jebli and
2 are gnolls. The overseers are responsi-
ble for the care and feeding of the slaves
until sold.

The keys to the rows of cells are hung on
3 different pegs on the west wall. The
overseers have been drinking wine <Keoish golden> 
from a cask and swapping tales. They will investigate
any trouble on the floor. Each carries 2-12 gp and there
is a 25% chance for each that he has a gem worth 100 gp.
<4, 4, 6, 7, 11, 6, 9 = 47 gp total>
<alexandrite: 100 gp, jet: 100 gp>

High Jebli overseers: AC 5; MV 9 ”;
HD 1+1; hp 9, 7, 6, 6, 5; #AT 1: D 1-8 by fauchard-fork (pole scythe + fork) 
THACO 18 
XP 38, 34, 32, 32, 30 (total 166)

Gnoll overseers: AC5; MV 9”; HD2; hp 15, 12; #AT 1; D 2-8 by godentag
THACO 16
XP 58, 54 (total 112)

>>29.