BENEATHTHE STREETS

By Monte Cook

WWW.PTOLUS.COM

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2 PTOLUS: BENEATH THE STREETS

INTRODUCTION

■ IntroductionWhere Do I Start? . . . . . . . . . . . .4

Page Numbering . . . . . . . . . .4Time for Delving! . . . . . . . . . . . .5

Acknowledgments . . . . . . . . .5What is Ptolus? . . . . . . . . . . .5

TABLE OF CONTENTS

BELOW THE CITY

■ What’s Down There?The Draw of the Realm Below . . .6Undercity vs. Dungeon . . . . . . . . .7Using the Underlevelsin the Campaign . . . . . . . . . . . . . .8Pits of Insanity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .8Ghul’s Labyrinth . . . . . . . . . . . . .10Information Panel: The Banewarrens . . . . . . . . . . . . .11

■ The UndercityThe Nature of the Undercity . . . .15Undercity Market . . . . . . . . . . . .15

Chamber of Longing . . . . . . . . . .19Dark Market . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .19Longfingers Guild Headquarters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .21Mirror Maze . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .28The Prison . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .28

■ The SewersThe Nature of the Sewers . . . . . .31Layout of the Sewers . . . . . . . . . .32Using the Sewers . . . . . . . . . . . . .32System Monitors . . . . . . . . . . . . .34A Ratman Nest . . . . . . . . . . . . . .34

■ The CavernsRunning the Caverns . . . . . . . . . .39The Giant’s Staircase and Eternity Cave . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .40Serpent Caves . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .43Locathah Cavern . . . . . . . . . . . . .44Vaults of the Rhodintor . . . . . . .45Caverns of the Galchutt . . . . . . .45Dark Elf Caverns . . . . . . . . . . . .46

■ DwarvenhearthHistory of Dwarvenhearth . . . . .52Dwarvenhearth at its Height . . . .54

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TABLE OF CONTENTS 3

WRITING:

Monte Cook

EDITING AND PRODUCTION:

Sue Weinlein Cook

COVER ART AND LOGO:

Todd Lockwood

CARTOGRAPHY:

Ed Bourelle

FEATURED ARTISTS:

Jason Engle, The Forge Studios (Maciej

Zagórski and Pawel Dobosz), Michael

Komarck, Eric Lofgren, Howard Lyon,

and Michael Phillippi.

CONTRIBUTING ARTISTS:

Toren “MacBin” Atkinson, Kev

Crossley, Talon Dunning, Brian

LeBlanc, Alan Pollack, rk post, Peter

Schlough, J.D. Sparks, Arne Swekel,

Sam Wood, and Kieran Yanner

GRAPHIC DESIGN:

Lisa Chido and Brian Rasmussen

TYPESETTING:

Lisa Chido

PROOFREADING:

Brian Gute and Miranda Horner

INDEXING:

Lori Ann Curley

MIDTOWN PARTISAN:

Erik Mona

PTOLUS RESIDENTS:

Michele Carter, Andy Collins, Sue

Cook, Bruce R. Cordell, Jesse Decker,

Erik Mona, Christopher Perkins, Sean

K Reynolds, and Keith Strohm

VISITORS TO THE CITY:

Steven “Stan!” Brown, Jeff Quick, Keri

Reynolds, Charles Ryan, Ed Stark, and

James Wyatt

HEROES OF ANCIENT PRAEMAL:

Michele Carter, Bruce R. Cordell,

Christopher Perkins, John Rateliff,

Teresa Reid, and Sean K Reynolds

CREDITS

Adventuring in Dwarvenhearth . . . . . . . . . . . . . .56General Locations . . . . . . . . . . . .64Specific Locations . . . . . . . . . . . .68Dwarvenhearth Scenarios . . . . . .75

APPENDIX

■ Reference Maps and MoreOpen Game License . . . . . . . .76Legal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .76Ptolus City Map . . . . . . . . . . .77Dungeon Side-View Map . . . .78Proclamation . . . . . . . . . . . . . .79Ptolus Miniatures . . . . . . . . . .80Ptolus Map Products . . . . . . . .81

GUIDE TO THE PTOLUS PDFS

Throughout this book you will find

references in the text and in the side-

panels to other books in the PT series

of Ptolus PDF editions. For your con-

venience, here’s a listing of all the titles

in the series and their corresponding

title codes:

A Player’s Guide to Ptolus PT1

The World of Praemal PT2

Organizations PT3

Districts of the City, Vol. 1 PT4

Districts of the City, Vol. 2 PT5

DM’s Companion PT6

Beneath the Streets PT7

Adventures PT8

The Spire PT9

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INTRODUCTION

As exciting as the surface of Ptolus can be, many adventurers find what goes on beneath the city streets to be of even greater interest. Most locals call such subterranean places collectively “the Dungeon,” and

many adventures in the typical Ptolus Campaign take place below the city.

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Welcome to Beneath the Streets, whichunveils to you the mysterious anddangerous world of the Undercity

and Dungeon beneath the City of Ptolus. Thematerial in this book corresponds directly toPart IV (Chapters 19 through 23) in Ptolus:Monte Cook’s City by the Spire.

This is one in a series of nine Ptolus PDFreleases from Malhavoc Press. When used togeth-er, they comprise the entirety of the Ptolus printbook. Each one is also usable on its own for city-based fantasy d20 roleplaying campaigns.

WHERE DO I START?If you’ve purchased this book as a generalsourcebook and you’re not sure what Ptolus is,check out the sidebar on the next page for aprimer on the product and the city it details. Ifon the other hand you’re starting to plan yourown Ptolus Campaign, here are a few guidelineson how to get started.

Whether you are a player or a DM, start byreading A Player’s Guide to Ptolus. Thatbook—free to download as a PDF at<www.ptolus.com>—provides a quick overviewof everything else in the book. Of course, itdoesn’t go into any of the secrets of the setting—

those are for the DM to reveal as time goes on.DMs should print out a copy for each player.Let everyone have a chance to learn about thecity and get a feel for the setting.

Where you go next depends on how you’regoing to use Ptolus. If you want it to be yourcampaign setting, start reading PT2, The Worldof Praemal and learn all the basics of the world.

If Ptolus is destined to become a city in yourexisting world, jump straight to the Districts ofthe City PDFs (PT4 and PT5) and read aboutthe various parts of town.

If you only want to mine the setting for ideas,flip through the various PDF releases that inter-est you and look at whatever strikes your fancy.You’ll find interesting city locales, strange andfascinating NPCs, dungeon complexes, evilfortresses, haunted ruins, complex organiza-tions, a few new races, monsters, prestige class-es, spells, and a lot more.

Ready-made adventures for characters oflevel 1 to 4 are available in PT8, Adventures.For those of you who need adventures beyondthose offered there, check out the ninety-six-page Night of Dissolution Ptolus adventure. Itprovides an exciting Ptolus-based adventure for4th- to 9th-level characters.

PTOLUS: BENEATH THE STREETS

Two sets of page numbers appearat the top of the pages that comeafter this introduction. The mainpage numbers correspond to this

book’s table of contents. The onesin parenthesis correspond to the

page numbers of the Ptolus printbook. They are there so you can

properly check the side-panel cross-references of important words that

you’ll find boldfaced throughoutthis book. These cross-references tellyou where to find more information

about a given term, character, orplace. They direct you to either a

page number in this book, a chapterin another book, or a page number

and title code of another install-ment of the PT series. We reference

the page numbers from the printbook so that, whatever edition ofPtolus you have, you can discusspage references with friends andnot risk any confusion. Look fora rundown of all PT title codes

in this book’s Table of Contents.

PAGE NUMBERING Sam

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INTRODUCTION

If you want to read every last bit of informationavailable on the city, look for two Ptolus-relatedproducts previously released by Malhavoc Press:The Banewarrens and Chaositech.

To delve even deeper into Ptolus, check out theofficial comic book, published by DB Pro, avail-able from Diamond Comics. We’re also proud tooffer metal miniatures from Paizo Publishing, specialty map products from cartographer EdBourelle’s SkeletonKey Games, and the PtolusCounter Collection from Fiery DragonProductions.

TIME FOR DELVING!Beneath the Streets introduces Ptolus’ fascinatingunderground areas, including Ghul’s Labyrinth—a network of passages and rooms created longago by a dark lord—and an “unofficial” under-ground territory called the Undercity. Both adven-turers and subterranean dwellers use the city’sSewers to get around underground. The bookalso covers Dwarvenhearth, an ancient city oftreasure, guardians, and traps. And an extensivecomplex of natural Caverns below Ptolus holdsits dread secrets, from dark elf fortresses to thelairs of the Galchutt’s servants.

Much of the information in this book mayinterest players, but it should remain a secret atfirst. Consider the majority of the details in thesepages privileged information—facts the PCsmight discover as the campaign progresses.

Throughout Beneath the Streets, all referencesto spells, feats, and other rules come either fromthis book or from the v. 3.5 revision of the threeCore Rulebooks: the Player’s Handbook, DMG,and MM. This book is protected content exceptfor items specifically called out as Open GameContent on the Legal page. For full details, pleaseturn to the Appendix. Open content is not other-wise marked in the text of this book.

Bonus source material and ideas to augment the information in the Ptolus PDFs appear on mywebsite. Find the links to these free web enhance-ments, my campaign journal, and much moreonline at <www.ptolus.com>.

Thanks for trying the Ptolus Campaign! I hopeyou enjoy it as much as I do.

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These people and things playeda significant part in the creationof Ptolus, even if indirectly, andthus they have my thanks:

Kelley Barnes-Herrmann, PhilBoulle, Ed Bourelle, DeanBurnham, Michele Carter, MikeChaney, Andy Collins, Sue Cook,Bruce Cordell, Jesse Decker,Denmark (and new friendsthere), fans of The Banewarrens,Red Garland, GatewayComputers, Gen Con, Get Fuzzy,Brian Glass, Godspeed You BlackEmperor, Gary Gygax, ConradHubbard, everyone working onLost, H.P. Lovecraft, Marley,China Mieville, Matt Milberger,Erik Mona, Monster EnergyDrink (lo-carb), Grant Morrison,Chris Perkins, Porcupine Tree,posters on our message boards,Jeff Quick, John Rateliff, ReducedFat Wheat Thins, Sean Reynolds,Rufus, Charles Ryan, Seattle’sweather, Morgan Spurlock, SonyElectronics, Source Comics andGames, Spock's Beard, Stan!,Tortoise, two different ergonomickeyboards and three (optical, notblind) mice, Aaron Voss, SteveWieck, Stewart Wieck, Fred Yelk,and Yes.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

WHAT IS PTOLUS?If you were to imagine the most deluxe roleplaying game product ever, what would be in it?

More than 600 pages of fantasy source and adventure material from one of the industry’s greatestdesigners? Check. Glorious full-color art? Check. Double-sidedposter map? Player handouts? A CD-ROM packed with bonusmaterial? Check, check, and check.

As a book, Ptolus is many things all at once. It is . . . • The ultimate fantasy campaign in which adventurers

plumb the depths of a gigantic underground labyrinthfilled with treasure, monsters, and traps—or try to makenames for themselves in a city filled with intrigues, poli-tics, and mystery.

• The very first and longest-running 3rd Edition campaign,run by one of the game’s designers for industry celebsincluding two editors of Dragon® magazine, two editors ofDungeon®, three Wizards of the Coast roleplaying design-ers and three editors, and even the former D&D businessmanager.

• A detailed city setting crammed with characters, locations,and enough adventures to take characters from 1st to 20th level.

• A work of unsurpassed usability, featuring extensive indexing and cross-referencingthroughout, designed and tested by the author of the Dungeon Master’s Guide and the“Dungeoncraft” column in Dungeon to make play even easier and more fun.

• The most deluxe RPG package ever designed; the 672-page print book includes more than130 pages of color artwork and maps, three bound-in fabric bookmarks, four tear-out card-stock bookmarks, two dozen handouts, and a CD-ROM containing 700 pages of additionalbonus products, Ptolus adventures, reference documents, and source material.

• For our readers who prefer electronic (PDF) versions of roleplaying products, we’ve madethe entire book available as a series of PDFs: the PT series (see page 3). When you buy allnine PDFs, you have the same print items available in the physical Ptolus book.

MSRP $119.99 • Stock #WW16114

ISBN 1-58846-789-9

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WHAT’S DOWN THERE?

Beneath Ptolus lie vast chambers, caverns, and tunnels. In fact, there are whole cities of dwarven and dark elven creationbelow the surface. But how can this be? And why here? There are many reasons, and there is one reason. . . .

“Dungeons” are not a commonconcept in the rest of the world.

That is to say, dungeons areholes in the ground where

prisoners are thrown in thelowest level of the castle, but

they are not vast labyrinths filledwith treasure and monsters.

The concept is unique to Ptolus.

The Banewarrens, page 419Labyrinth of Ghul, page 418Undercity Market, page 423

Galchutt, PT2: page 60

Danar Rotansin, PT2: page 75Ghul, PT2: page 81

Night of Dissolution,PT2: page 60

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PTOLUS: BENEATH THE STREETS

The so-called “Dungeon” has many por-tions: natural caverns, the infamousexpanse of Dwarvenhearth, the even

older Banewarrens, the extensive Labyrinth ofGhul, various crypts and independent under-ground complexes, and even the sewers. Andthen there’s the Undercity Market and environs,which is almost like another district of thesurface Ptolus. All have their own reasonfor being, their own creation stories, andtheir own particulars.

But the one reason, the ultimate explanationfor why they are all here—the Banewarrens, themonster-infested underground Labyrinth, thedark elven grottos, the zaug caverns, and eventhe vast Spire itself—is the Galchutt.

THE DRAW OFTHE REALM BELOWUnbeknownst to him, Danar Rotansin—whobecame the Dread One, who built Jabel Shammarand the Banewarrens and caused the Spire’s creation—was drawn here by the subconscious, subtle, seductive power of the Galchutt. Ghul,the Skull-King who built Goth Gulgamel and thevast Labyrinth that radiates out from below theSpire, was brought here because of the legacy ofthe Dread One, whom he sought to imitate. Even

the dwarves who built Dwarvenhearth weretricked into coming here and digging deep.

The Galchutt wanted to be found. They want-ed creatures near them to seduce and controleven as they slumbered deep below the ground.Their powerful essence worked on the subcon-scious minds of nearby creatures, and they created servants—those who would follow theirempathic suggestions; those who would worshipthem as gods. Most such servants do not under-stand the forces that work upon them and arenot even aware that the Galchutt exist.

But the presence of the Galchutt serves asa clarion call for every evil beast, chaotic crea-ture, and malevolent monster. Subtly, slowly,the lure has worked on the instincts of creaturesfrom aboleths to yeth hounds. Without knowingwhy, a disproportionately large percentage ofthe world’s evil creatures has gathered around orbeneath the Spire, drawn by the power of theGalchutt. And as the Galchutt begin to stir andthe dreaded Night of Dissolution approaches, thesympathetic pull of their essence only growsstronger. Even non-evil creatures with savagenatures, like owlbears and rust monsters, gatherhere in greater numbers than anywhere else.

The Elder Elves recognized that an evil attrac-tion surrounded the Spire. They saw it affect

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