The pitter patter of tiny feet (part two)

 Shrine to Dhaktili (#22/30, #326/365)

"This cave is full of smoke from several greasy candles and appears to be a shrine of some sort. The candles illuminate the far end of the cave, which contains a stone idol in the form of a red hairy tusked creature with large claws, and it is surrounded by a profusion of red clay hands, all reaching towards the idol with clawed fingers. In front of the idol, several Gremlins in long sack-cloth robes dyed red are tapping on one of the red clay hands with a small bone hammer.

On seeing, the largest Gremlin curses 'Die Unbelievers!' and throws the hammer in your direction!"

Contents: The first Hero in the tunnel entering this chamber must Test their Skill, if they are successful they have dodged the hammer and it then may strike the next person in the line, unless they successfully dodge, and so on. Throwing Hammers are identical to Throwing Daggers for damage and range purposes, and will damage creatures like Skeletons normally. However they cannot be coated with Blade Venom or other poisons.

The Gremlins will then attack, unless the Heroes have a very good reason for being in this most holy part of their lair of tunnels. It is a shrine to Dhaktili, God of the Underworld (see below) and the priest, Hudjak the Red, once saved the Gremlin Chief, Ergoth the Cruel, from a pack of Gnolls, by calling upon his power of 'Casting of Creatures to the Bottomless Pit'. Hudjak is not afraid to use the power in this shrine too (+1 Devotion bonus to all Dhaktili powers); if he does, roll on the table below to determine where people affected by the power end up:

1 False Tomb

2 Pit of Serpents.

3 Haunted Sidechamber

4 Fungus Chamber.

5 Outer Sanctum, Zone Two

6 Outer Sanctum, Zone Three

Chief Ergoth the Cruel thus takes Dhaktili worship very seriously, and the shrine is richly appointed with devotional clay hands created by members of the tribe. There is no treasure here however.

Stats:

Hudjak the Red, GREMLIN Priest of Dhaktili: SKILL 5, STAMINA 5, Devotion 7, Bone Dagger or Throwing Hammer. Hudjak's Dagger is made from bone and covered in a crude home-made Blade Venom that resembles viscous black sludge and causes +1 STAMINA damage for any successful hit that wounds (hits whose damage is fully absorbed by armour don't count). The Blade Venom lasts for one combat only, before it has to be reapplied.

In addition to their Dagger, Hudjak has has 2-12 Copper Pieces, 1-6 SP, a spare Throwing Hammer, a Holy Symbol of Dhaktili (silver pendant with ruby carved into the shape of a clawed hand worth 30GP), a Gas Egg (see Encyclopedia Arcana: Volume 1, p. 121) and their left hand is painted red along with their sackcloth robes

4 GREMLIN Acolytes of Dhaktili, SKILL 4 STAMINA 4, Dagger. The Gremlin's Dagger is made from bone and covered in a crude home-made Blade Venom that resembles viscous black sludge and causes +1 STAMINA damage for any successful hit that wounds (hits whose damage is fully absorbed by armour don't count). The Blade Venom lasts for one combat only, before it has to be reapplied.

In addition to their dagger, each Gremlin also has 1-6 Copper Pieces, 1-3 SP and their left hand is painted red, also wearing red robes.

New God:

Dhaktili

Demigod of the Underground

 

Specific Power:    Casting of Creatures to the Bottomless Pit: This ritual was stolen from the Underworld by the Gaddon usurpers and turned into a Spell of Doom and Despair. It can only be used underground; to summon this power utter the following words:

 

“Thrice round weave, twice up and twice down,

And make the sign of the Seven Senses of Dismay.”

 

Two enormous, red-furred hands with curved claws, some say belonging to Dhaktili himself, erupt from the ground and grab as many enemies as the Priest’s Devotion score. They will be taken below to the nearest chamber in a lower dungeon level, cavern system or catacombs; this can be avoided with a successful Test for Luck. If there are no lower levels (and why not!) the victims will be deposited instead into the furthest away chamber on the same level. This process will cause 1-6 STAMINA points of damage. The hands will then disappear.

 

General Powers:

-        Banish

-        Curse

-        Weakness

 

Dhaktili is the God of the Underworld, the Master of the Dungeon, the Lord of Caves, Caverns and Catacombs. He is worshipped by many subterranean races, especially Kobolds, Craggeracks, Troglodytes, Gleff, Gremlins, N’yadachs and Cavern Elves. As one would expect for an underworld deity, Dhaktili’s perceived form varies widely; Troglodytes regard him as a protean deity of everchanging form, surmounted by a golden skull, while Gremlins consider him a great red clawed hand, always clutching at the tangled threads of life in the underworld. Kobolds and their relatives think Dhaktili resembles a fat humanoid figure with a friendly, smiling face and outstretched arms; conversely, to the Cavern Elves and others, he is Vacavon, a grotesque, snarling, tusked creature of the darkness. His holy symbol is a clawed hand, or, more rarely, a skull inside a triangle, and his sacred colour is red. Some Priests are known to wear a Ring of Indescribable Horrors to show their devotion to Dhaktili.