Rrace the Devil, MERP

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Race the
Devil
Some Background
Early on in this adventure series, some
clues were reveled that eventually lead to
this adventure. (see Snow and Subter-
fuge). Hoegwar Hoegs-son, a talented spy
in the pay of Angmar, found a map and
fragments of a poem that hinted at some
treasure hidden in a dwarf hold some-
where in Rhudaur, probably on the banks
of the Mitheithel. Hoegwars hunch about
a great treasure was right, but he was
wrong about the location. It's taken a few
years for the information to come to the
eyes of Lord Arkish, and a few more
months for the mistakes made by Hoeg-
war to be realised and corrected.
A high level MERP adventure
By Andy Warner
Race the Devil is an adventure for experi-
enced, high level characters. It first ap-
peared as 'Barad Cam - Tower of the Fist'
on the City of Solis website.
This adventure forms part of the climax of
a lengthy campaign. It is set at the end of
summer in TA 1990 or 1991, around an
old Dwarven fortification on the banks of
the river Bruinen, in the Angle of En
Egladil.
The History of Ring Rist
Long ago, before the sundering of Middle
Earth, there was a dwarven hold where
weaponsmiths perfected their arts. Over
the following Ages, through the catastro-
phes and upheavals of Middle Earth, the
Dwarves grew wary and suspicious of the
powers of Darkness. With foresight, and
the guidance of Aule, they crafted some
powerful items of war. One of these was a
blade forged from the living rock of Middle
Earth, which the smiths named RingRist
in the tongue of Elves, which is Cold
Cleaver in the westron of men and hob-
bits. It was made with magics and the
blessings of the Dwarven lore-masters, a
bane to the dark undead that were even
then prowling the land at the behest of
the Dark Lord Sauron. Its creation was
recorded by the Dwarves, as they love to
boast of their great abilities. However,
they are a secretive race and the annals
were written in the Cirith script, and in
the language of dwarves. At some stage,
the annals were transcribed into Westron,
though they were never written in any
script save the runic Cirith.
Introduction
Summer is rolling into Autumn, and the
forests of En Egladil are shining gold and
red where a few weeks before they were
verdant green. It's been a warm week,
and the air is heavy and humid. The skies
are leaden, and the clouds roll in from the
west filled with the promise of thunder.
Deep in the heart of the Angle, a race is
being run. The spies of Angmar have
heard rumor of a mighty weapon hidden
among the ruins of an old Dwarven set-
tlement. This weapon is the hallowed
blade RingRist - the Cold Cleaver. Lord
Arkish of Eldanar has researched the
blade, and believes it has power over the
risen dead. He covets this blade and has
sent his best war-band to recover it. If
the North is to survive the ravages of a
second Great War, the blade must be
found before Arkish gets his hands on it.
So it is that the Players are racing
through ancient woods and glens to an
uncertain destiny.
The Annals of Grumbar Dains-son
Grumbar, son of Dain, son of Growlin the
Elder, Lore Master of Hammer-Delve
wrote a long and comprehensive history
of his clan and its achievements. This
history was recorded in the language of
the Khazad, and written in their sacred
Runic Script. It was chiseled on tablets of
stone and kept hidden in the great vaults
of Hammer Delve. Over time, the king-
doms of the dwarves dwindled and many
left their home in the hills and coombs to
seek their kin in the Great Halls of Khazad
Dum and their ilk. So it was that Hammer
Delve became forgotten, a ghostly hall
where the echoes of former glory are all
that remain of a once great place. It was
not deserted over night, it was a long and
slow decline. During that time, many cav-
erns and grottos were sealed by the
dwarves, hidden deep in the earth and
protected by elaborate traps and machi-
nations only Dwarves could design.
Among them was the Hall of Lore where
the Annals of Grumbar, son of Dain, son
of Growlin, lay undisturbed and forgotten.
Almost forgotten, I should say. For some
of those ancient tablets were gathered up
and removed from the Halls and taken to
the delves of Khazad Dum, where a few
fragments were transcribed and trans-
lated. Among them was a poem that tells
of the forging of Ring Rist.
A Blade so Bright and filled with Light,
And forged of living Rock,
A Blade that Glows where Coldness flows,
To fight and Never stop
About the Poem
The sword was made by Dwarf smiths in a
Hallowed Temple Forge, fuelled by the
light of Elbereth which was chanelled
deep underground by the power of Aule.
The place is sacred, it would be nigh on
impossible for the forces of Darkness to
enter. Research can provide leads to lo-
cations of this kind of temple.
The blade was made to cut deep into the
core of Evil and Darkness and to undo the
magics that created the Evil things it is
used against.
The blade was quenched in a great tor-
rent, originating from two rivers where
whose confluence occurs at the Delve.
They were the Mitheithel and Bruinen.
The Smiths worked for many months on
this blade, in a seemingly endless rota-
tion.
It was imbued with powers to rally the
hearts of those around it against Dark-
ness, as well as powers against the Dark-
ness.
The blade was forged because the
Dwarves realised the Darkness of Melkor
had come into the world again.
The blade was made of living rock, the
very flesh of Aule went into it. It is vol-
canic Laen, and it flares bright and true
with a soul of its own. It glows powerfully
in the presence of Evil creatures such as
Wraiths, Wights and other undead, and its
will drives its weilders on to destroy the
Darkness, providing them with magical
protections against their foes.
All in all, it is a very powerful item and
could be the turning point of a campaign.
Its probably too powerful to allow mere
The Poem
Forged of Fire in ways of Light,
where Dark shall never come,
The One that cuts to deepest core,
the Evil is Undone.
From Rivers fast came quenching thirst
to hiss and spit and boil,
In Deepest Fires the Naugrim smiths
worked in Endless toil.
Ring Rist was forged that Eve of Death
to Rally and to Fight,
That which had gone, has come again,
a Dark and Evil Might.
Players to control it. (could it truely be
the blade that in a thousand years will
slay the Witch King in the hands of a
Shield Maiden of Rohan?).
In MERP/RM terms, this is a holy weapon,
+20, slaying verses undead. It has sev-
eral spell-lists bound into it. it is made of
Laen, and glows strongly around undead,
and also glows in the presence of crea-
tures or people under the influence of the
Dark Lord Sauron (or his minions).
Hammer-Delve and the Hallowed
Temple
add stuff here
Barad Cam - Tower of the Fist
History of the Sword
Forged in a Hallowed Temple deep within
the Hearth of Hammer-Delve, a Dwarven
hold in the hills near the confluence of the
Bruinen and Mitheithel. The blade was
kept under heavy security, used as the
weapon of office of the Delve Lord for
many generations. It was never wielded
in anger, and slipped from use into legend
and myth. When the last Kings of Ham-
mer-Delve left for Khazad Dum, it had
long been forgotten by almost everyone.
It lay in a great crypt within the temple
protected by intricate traps, machinations
and, some say, Dwarf Magics. Any re-
search would lead people to believe that
is where it still lies. But it is not so. One
dwarven Lore Master knew the old tales,
knew the power of that weapon and knew
it was not safe to keep it where it 'should
be'. He resolved to remove it to a pro-
tected location and over the years he had
a safe storage place purpose built outside
the city. It was a simple tower, heavily
fortified and defended, with an under-
ground crypt built to house the sword. It
was protected by machinations and traps.
He named this place Barad Cam, Tower of
the Fist. It stands on the banks of the
Bruinen, upstream of the Hammer-Delve.
It is now a ruin, forgotten even by the
descendants of the builders, but it still
holds its secret.
All that is left of Barad Cam is a small ru-
ined keep standing on a rocky outcrop on
the banks of the river. Its walls are bro-
ken and its tower has fallen leaving debris
and rubble clothed in ivy, creepers and
vines. The ravages of time have almost
completed the destruction men set out to
do. Built to an old plan, the main entry to
the keep is up a ramp to the first floor,
some 15 feet above ground level. Stairs
lead down to the basement storage area
(A), and up into the ruins of what were
the keeps upper levels (A1). The upper
stair ends abruptly after about 20 ft, but
could be used to climb into a watching
place with good vantage points. There are
no rooms or real structure above the first
level and any activity is prone to accident
as the walls are now unsafe. There is a
good view over the surrounding area,
down to the river. The main level provides
some protection from the elements, and
is quite defensible though the rubble and
overgrowth may hamper activity. There is
nothing else of interest here.
The steps descend about
20 ft down
to
the basement level and are easily cleared
of debris. They lead into dark, dank fetid
rooms within the thick keep walls, at a
level just a few feet below the level of the
ground outside. Even so, within the thick,
windowless walls, the debris is damp and
smells of mold
and decay. There are
four rooms that may have been used for
storage, though nothing remains to tell
exactly what went on here. One room is
small and the remains of a heavy door
hint at its former use as prison cell or
something similar. Careful investigation
will reveal a
well crafted
concealed door
(B)
in one of the walls, though its open-
ing mechanism may prove to be illusive,
the main parts having long since
rusted
away
. The door and stair behind are situ-
ated within a buttress and are hinted at
by the
bulge in the outer wall
, though
overgrowth may make this feature diffi-
cult to notice. The stairs lead down about
30 ft into the sub subterranian rooms that
were carved out of some existing caverns
in an age long passed.
probably not be noticed on a descent, it
works brilliantly to trip those not aware of
its presence
climbing
the stair, especially
in flight or panic (Note, this really works
well and is a technique used in some of
the Medieval castles of England - e.g.
Penhew Castle in South Wales) The pas-
sages and rooms are
very damp
here,
with water lying in shallow pools in some
places. There is a
pungent smell
that
can becomes nauseating nearer the
blocked passage
(C)
from the
Troll lair
below
. There is a room
(z)
behind a pair
of large, heavy brass bound oak doors,
which have warped and split with time.
The brass fittings are corroded but hold
firm. With continued effort you should al-
low access. The room has a similar pair of
doors opposite, a low stone plinth on one
wall, the use of which is unclear and an
intriguing set of four brass levers pro-
truding from brass lined slots in the oppo-
site wall. Any attempt to move these is
futile as they have corroded long ago.
They once controlled the opening of the
sluices and portcullis below and the ac-
cess to the secret compartments in the
catacombs.
The doors lead to a
rubble filled
passage
The Hidden Levels
The steps are
trapped (t)
about half way
down using a common Dwarven tech-
nique. One step is simply an
inch or so
higher
than the rest. Whilst this does not
in itself harm anyone passing, and will
with steps descending
(C)
. There are a
few more pools of
cold still water
here
and the dirt is wet rather than damp. The
other area is interesting as it houses two
statues
of dwarven warriors. One is
Durin the Deathless
(y)
and the other
Angcam of Barad Cam
(x)
. They are
about twice life-size and are adorned in
real
armour and clasp
real
weapons,
though all are corroded and seized with
the exception of the sword Angcam is
wielding, which although it appears use-
less and tarnished, is in fact a well made
weapon that has withstood all that time
could throw at it, being made of
superior
high steel (+15)
. It is about the size of
a normal hand and a half (bastard)
sword, and could be used as such. These
two statues are
Dwarven Automatons
placed to guard the real treasure hidden
nearby. A careful eye might spot an
oily
sheen
in places around the base of the
statues, especially around some of the
joints and the small plinths they stand on.
Angcam faces a wall where an
inscrip-
tion
in old Cirith runes can be made out
whilst Durin faces the open corridor.
The alcove concealed behind the
runic
facade
contains the treasure of Barad
Cam, the named blade '
Ring Rist
' (see
below). It sits upon a beautiful crystal
stand and shines and glints dimly, with its
own beautiful light. (If the
troll
is within
30 ft, it will
glow
slightly with a pale
blue, baleful light, getting brighter as the
troll gets closer). Access to the alcove can
be gained by manipulation of the carved
runes. Some can be pressed in, and if
done in the correct order, the alcove will
be revealed. The word
OPEN
needs to be
spelled out, one letter from each verse.
Of course, any failed attempt to retrieve
the blade causes the Automatons to grind
into life with terrible rending, scraping
and grating noises that themselves should
be enough to
scare
the daylights out of
any Hobbit in the party. They are slow
and cumbersome after so many years in
this damp place, but they
still work
,
swinging their weapons in great sweeping
arcs. Ancient Dwarven magics and me-
chanics power them still and they will fol-
low thieves as far as they can, until their
power runs out. (Remember any escape
up the
trapped
stair may slow the party
enough for an attack or two). The
secret
compartment
(s)
in a side room con-
tains vials of oil, remnants of rags, a set
of tools all corroded into one messy lump
and a 'service manual' detailing the
workings of the automatons. This con-
cealed compartment may be located by
the
dribble of oil
that has escaped and
marked the stonework in that area. The
manual is
all but useless
, but careful
investigation will reveal how to
disable
the things, and should also hint that there
is magic involved. If disabling is carried
out, Durins statue will be totally useless,
but Angcams will still retain some function
and will start to move, grating and
squealing as metal and stone are forced
against each other until mechanisms fail
and the thing goes still.
The blocked passage at
(C)
can be
opened with a
few hours
work, but there
is risk of further
collapse
, which may in-
jure the party, or trap some of them un-
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Rrace the Devil, MERP

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