Let's Pick Through Greyhawk Ruins

Hail fellow Greyhawkers! I'm taking a break from researching and writing about my old 2E campaign, but I'm still staying with a 2E classic, Greyhawk Ruins by Blake Mobley and Timothy Brown. In 1990, Ruins was for the definitive Castle Greyhawk to us. We knew WG7 Castle Greyhawk was a joke and back then I hardly knew anything about Gygax's original campaign enough to go it alone. This book for $15.00 was worth every penny. It boasted 1000 separate room descriptions, though the maps and art left much to be desired. Needless to say, we played every inch of the three tower ruins and then when the adventure was played out, my friends rebuilt Zagig's castle!

Greyhawk Ruins was a success in my book (especially since it got a semi-update in 3.5E), but even if you disagree and have no desire to use it, there is still some quite interesting, obscure stuff you can mine from these dungeons. Let's pick through the ruins. Beware though, there will be SPOILERS.

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The first one I'll throw out is the wizard group called the Ring of Five. Chat about this group came up recently on our show Legends & Lore and now digging back into the module I was thrilled to rediscover they are first mentioned in the "Rumors" section. That's right, rumor, it goes like this:

"Zagig, The Black One of the Vale of the Mage, Leomund, Melf and Serten, all powerful archmages and rivals to the Circle of Eight, watch the comings and goings of the Power Tower. They call themselves the "Ring of Five".

This entry is significant in hindsight because Len Lakofka (who guested on L&L) is adamant that his character Leomund was never in the Circle of Eight, but if not this celebrated group, why would Leomund be in this mismatched group either? The next problem is only Melf (an elf) would've been alive when Zagig Yragerne was a practicing mortal wizard. Since then, Zagig became a demigod, but for some reason he hangs out with a random assortment of other spellcasters from present day? Okay this part is true but Ruins aside, previous sources written by Gygax (the boxed set Guide and Dragon Magazine) clearly spell out who Zagyg the demigod hangs out with, and it's none of these guys for sure (his gang is Heward, Murlynd, Keoghtom, etc.). Also, I'm quite certain Serten was killed at the Battle of Emridy Meadows (an esoteric discrepancy). Now I could try to justify the Ring of Five's existence, but I'd rather the rumor is false. However, Ruins presents the Ro5 as a viable present day concern throughout the book. For example, it says if you steal too many magic items from the ruins, the Ring (or their minions) may come to Greyhawk to get them back! Indeed, there is many other clues of the Ro5 operating in the ruins, yet specifically working through representative wizards. More on that below.

The War Wagon: I'm no historian of Castle Greyhawk lore, unlike some in the community (and I drew a comic about the ruins!), but I'd like to know how much of this is part is in Gygax's original castle. Zagig's War Wagon is housed in the War Tower ruins, with its accompanying eight chariots. This is remarkable for a number of reasons. The "famed" (three axle?) War Wagon is big. It dominates a huge chamber. The chariots are made of bronzewood, trimmed in hornwood and adamantite. The chariots and wagon are worth a total of 65,000 gp to collectors. You wouldn't have to play past this first level and be rich. Of course, the army that originally piloted these vehicles still haunts the ruins. But why? Did Zagig bind them to this tower when he vanished? Seems cruel, but you'll see later on this is standard for the mad archmage.
And what foe was this deadly mobile force created to battle against? Zagig's reign was before Iuz and before the Temple of Elemental Evil. He may have intended to use it against the Great Kingdom or Furyondy, though there is no other mention I'm aware of involving Greyhawk defending itself against attack (though it is a walled city, with a huge citadel). Maybe it was to fight orcs and bandits in the Cairn Hills? There is some clues in the lowest levels of one tower that indicate Zagig was prepared to mass enslave ogres to use as an army, in addition to having stockpiles of magic items whose only use could be to utterly destroy an enemy and his land. One more thing, Zagig built the castle in 320 CY, which is 256 years before the start of the World of Greyhawk main storyline. I guess chariots were in style back then, because I can't think of any other instance of them being in a Greyhawk book!

The Purple Table: I'm going to spoil this magic item from the Power Tower because it's too damn cool to keep a secret, and in the module, they maintain only Zagig knows its full use, which is a travesty. Check it out:

"A large table made of purple marble laced with gold swirls fills most of this area...
The gold swirls of the table will seem to move if observed for long. In actuality this table is an artifact and thus is nearly impervious to harm. Its use is a secret that only Zagig knew...
If all in the room sit at the table, a gold symbol of an eye in a star will magically appear upon the table's center. A purple world with gold markings will form from vapor issuing from the eye...The world will begin rotating and ancient runes will start dancing across its surface.
The world is Oerth and the runes are names and numbers listing many things such as population density and type, mineral wealth, magical concentration, etc..."

This table is invaluable and is clearly tied to Zagig's patron, Boccob. Are you a ruler? The table sees all population figures (like troops?). You a merchant? It knows where all the best resources are at. You a wizard? It knows the best ley lines, magic gates, deposits of oerthblood, etc.

Zagig's Apprentices: According to the cumulative lore of Ruins, Zagig searched for ways to extend his life or become immortal. His ultimate success at becoming a demigod is known in the annals of Greyhawk lore, but what about those who helped along the way? Much like a pharaoh entombed in a pyramid, his servants (including those war wagon guys) seem to never get away from these ruins!

The Power Tower has a group of mummies who were once apprentices but their greed for life and magic made them undead after their passing.

In Zagig's Tower There is a lich in the ruins, also a former apprentice of Zagig who experiments on bodies of any creatures he can get his skeletal hands on.

There is another lich in this tower whose only duty is to log in those who visit Zagig's lowest levels.

And of course, there is also a demilich who guards a library. Naturally, Zagig's most trusted librarian wouldn't get to leave the ruins either!

Zagig/Zagyg has a present day apprentice who works with four other wizards tied to the Ring of Five to oversee the adventure. Their details are left to the DM to develop, but it's suggested the name of Zagig's rep is Kalbe and he is a neutral worshiper of Boccob. While "Kalbe" is specifically the most recent apprentice of Zagig here, there is many other evil wizards and spellcasters running around in Ruins that I won't get into (its a lengthy module). The point is, there is so much magic to be had and learned here, either no one wants to leave, or they can't leave!

The last topic I'll pick out of this adventure (there's so many I could write a regular column on just this module) is unique magic weapons. There's a couple nice ones in here that I highly doubt are known in the general Greyhawk community, so I'm going to spotlight them, so many you can introduce them to your campaign in some fashion.

Dryanon "the Greatest", is a sentient, vorpal two-handed sword +5 with an ego of 35 and an alignment of neutral (Zagig made it?). Besides the usual speech and telepathic features, Dryanon can detect magic, secret doors and invisible objects. It can teleport once a day. It can also cast Fly and Heal. What fighter wouldn't want this sword? Well Dryanon's special purpose is to defeat all diametrically opposed alignments. Yes you read that right. it opposes all alignments except neutrality.
The fun part is how Dryanon starts off subtle and helpful to its wielder, slowly introducing more of its purpose to the PC and the party. It will eventually want all PCs to change to neutral, convert to Boccob or become druids and make it the leader of the party. This is the sword version of militant Balance obsessed Mordenkainen. That's not all, Dryanon has a friend...

Onik aka "Thunk" is a sentient warhammer +2 that is lawful neutral (good) and has a measly ego of 6. Onik is bullied by Dryanon and because of this, it is prone to sobbing, whimpering and moaning about it's uselessness. The hammer is manic-depressed and mercilessly mocked by the sword who calls it Thunk. These two items can definitely be entertaining if not disruptive to a group!

Finally, there is a less obnoxious sentient magic weapon in Greyhawk Ruins named Harlrun. This neutral blade +4 empathically communicates that it was forged for the house of Yust in the Great Kingdom (obscure and wholly undeveloped outside this mod!). Harlrun can detect traps and cast strength, but its main purpose is to defeat non-human monsters (a very broad category). This blade is not a detriment to a party and it could open up a good intrigue subplot for any campaign set in Aerdy.

That's all for now. More next time!