Delvers Guide: Places to See & Avoid, Part 1

The WEEPING CHASM is full of danger, but it is also full wonder. There are things below that you won't find anywhere else, sights unseen, experiences like no other. Some can be found in the tunnels, others in the ruins, and a few cling to the walls and lie upon the surface. Keep your wits about you, however, because for every wonder there's a monster close-by.

Here are a few of the more common monsters and places to see, and sometimes avoid.

Skin Wraiths

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Thought to be the lost, discontented souls of slain Avatars and their subsequent victims, SKIN WRAITHS are common enough to be fairly well documented. Semi-corporeal undead entities, akin to the deadlier life-draining wraiths found in the CATACOMBS, these shadowy creatures wear the tattered skins of their victims. They radiate intense cold, and their touch freezes, eventually paralysing their victims. The SKIN WRAITH then skins the victim, slowly, painfully, killing them in the process.

Thankfully, they are vulnerable to the divine powers of clerics and priests, and their semi-solid state allows mundane weapons to hurt them. A warning: only magic, divine or otherwise, can truly destroy a SKIN WRAITH; otherwise they simply reform in a matter of hours.

The Crystal Maze

Quite close to the lift-shaft is a series of connected tunnels and chambers, whose walls are compressed crystals and crystalline formations in a wide-range of dazzling colours. Bring light into this maze and the crystals catch the light, expel it tenfold and more, creating bursts and rays of dazzling, sometimes blinding, colours. It is a truly awesome sight, all the more magnificent for the absence of magic; the CRYTAL MAZE is a natural phenomena.

The crystals are worthless by themselves, something delvers have learnt over the years, but the maze connects to tunnels that lead deeper into the chasm, providing a short cut; this is unfortunate, as it is easy to get lost, especially when dazzled, and many an adventurer has lost their way and fallen prey to the creatures that hunt there. Sometimes you can stumble across a kill, still equipped for adventuring, maybe even still laden with treasure. The monsters that prowl the maze, giant vermin for the most part, care little for trinkets.

Mirror Imps

One of the creatures that uses the CRYSTAL MAZE as it 'hunting ground' is a peculiar demon that is known as a MIRROR IMP.

Mirrors, as any magi will tell you, can be used as doorways to other realms, so long as you have the right 'key' and know the appropriate ritual. One such realm is the ABYSS, that other world where demons dwell. MIRROR IMPS are able to cross through to our world at will, without keys or rituals; all that they require are mirrors reflecting back upon one another, conjuring up an infinite regression of images– as the scholars tell it– that create an accidental portal. The highly reflective crystals of the maze have the same effect, letting in the imps whenever they feel the need.

These bloated goblin-like demons are highly mischievous and malicious with it. They adopt a party, following them on their adventures, causing all sorts of problems; from attracting monsters, stealing or sabotaging equipment, hiding treasure, to cursing party members. When confronted they plead innocence, and try to make deals, which they always break at the first opportunity.