Communing with the Revered Elders, and the Ribald Residence Table

Despite having access to more classes than in Men & Magic, the Dwarves of Dwarf-Land still top out at 6th level, so the "high priests" of Dwarvish cults are at best Bishops without access to the Commune spell.

However, Clerics of the Dwarf-Gods are not without powers of communion with the spirit world. In the endless dripping catacombs beneath the Temple of the Dwarf-Gods in Castle Blitzendrang are interred ancestors and heroes known collectively as the Revered Elders. These worthies exist in various states of sullen, grasping Undeath and are approached only with a high degree of caution and circumspection, for they resent intrusions by the living (and the cultic covenant with the Elders renders all attempts at Turning inefficacious).

Any Cleric of the Dwarf-Gods who has reached Priest level or higher may descend into the deep catacombs of Blitzendrang to beard the Revered Elders in their domain. This journey has a similar effect as the Magic-User spell Contact Other Plane, but rather than choosing a plane of remove, the Cleric chooses an analogous depth to which he will descend from the 3rd to 12th levels of the increasingly shade-stalked labyrinth. Considerations of sanity and survival conspire to make trips into the catacombs quite rare, but in no event may a Cleric attempt to consult the Elders more than once in a week; more frequent presumption yields the direst possible result.

The Revered Elders' knowledge and veracity is determined per the usual table, as is the Cleric's chance of returning with his sanity blasted. There is also a 10% chance per journey, checked independently of other rolls, that the jealous Undead will claim the Cleric for their own. In such a case, the character is retired from play and joins the ghastly ranks of the Elders, although he may (at the Referee's discretion) reach the threshold and gasp out some or all of his hard-bought knowledge before being dragged shrieking and gibbering back into the depths by unseen hands.

*****

Player characters in the Dwarf-Land campaign are Dwarves and Gnomes, generally assumed to be natives and citizens of Castle Blitzendrang and its surrounding estates. It is therefore also assumed that each player character has a place to live. To determine what sort of residence an individual player character maintains at the start of play, consult the following table:

RIBALD RESIDENCE TABLE (1d8)

You live in:

1. A Hollow Tree

2. A Very Large Mushroom

3. A Titanic Boot

4. An Ancient Barrow

5. A Cozy Cottage

6. A Hillside Smial

7. A Teetering Tower

8. A Subterranean Grotto

The lavishness of the residence's appointments will naturally increase over the character's career through the routine expenditure of upkeep costs and whatever improvements the character independently undertakes. As always, the Referee is encouraged to expand the table and replace entries as necessary to maintain variety in the milieu.