DIRECTORIO DE COMPRAS DEL GOBIERNO FEDERAL

No one has ever made a full accounting of every crypt, ruin, tower, or vault scattered across hule. Many are lost to the knowledge of humankind, buried beneath the foundations of great cities or lying forgotten in distant jungle vales. his is a small sample of the better-known sites adventurers in hule might someday seek out.

Agda Jand: On the northern shores of the Kalayan

Sea stands a long-abandoned temple-city known as Agda Jand. housands of years ago, this was the center of a great rakshasa empire, but Agda Jand was razed by the armies of the old elven kingdoms and its masters put to the sword. he place is still haunted by summoned iends held in place by ancient rakshasa spells, and few dare to venture within its walls despite the rumors of vast treasure hidden inside.

Alhaingalar: Of old, Alhaingalar was a city of fell

and decadent sorcery where lowers were highly prized and grew in rich abundance on every wall and roof. Its citizens used spells to curb the winds, snows, and the cold, and were so wealthy that none wanted for food or comforts. his proud city lourished for centuries— but fell at last, as all proud cities do, when some of its citizens dabbled in magic that summoned maraud- ing beasts that fed on man and magic. None could vanquish these predators in that city of efete spell- dabblers, and the creatures overran the city, devouring all who could not lee in time. he untended lowers soon choked and covered the city as monsters prowled its abandoned ways, and it became forgotten to all save the tellers of wild tales. he slender-spired buildings of Alhaingalar are crumbling ruins, but still hold magic and riches galore . . . as well as monsters that rend and devour all visitors.

Anibhuraal: his sunken city lies in shoal waters

a day’s sail from the Ghan Peninsula in the Kalayan Sea. Many of the spires and ziggurats break the surface of the water. he architecture of the city is distinctly nonhuman, and some scholars who have visited the place suggest that it was a settlement or outpost of an extraterrene race such as elder things or mi-go, destroyed in a war with some other alien race.

he Blood Pit: A few hours’ journey from

Quodeth, in the rocky escarpments overlooking the Atlantean Ocean, a secret staircase built into the side of a clif above the crashing waves leads to a small cavern complex frequently used by smugglers to stow cargo or lay low. But a darker secret lies deeper in the rock. A massive stone door, usually barred from the inside, blocks the passage to an ancient temple com- plex, complete with adherents’ chambers, storerooms, and a massive chamber dominated by an ornate altar at the edge of a large pit, illed with a giant pool of red ichor—the blood of countless sacriices collected by cultists in an efort to appease or raise an elder horror.

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Caetirym: An abandoned town on the island of

Ry Mar in the middle of the Kalayan Sea, Caetirym is overrun by hordes of ghouls or zombies that rise from their crypts on moonless nights. According to tales, Caetirym was once a prosperous town of Atlantean merchants and mages who fell victim to some dire curse hundreds of years ago. he curse transformed these unfortunate folk into the monsters that shamble through the ruins today.

Catacombs of Anir’etak: he rubble above belies

the greatness of what was once the temple complex of Anir’etak. A massive gold-topped pyramid, long since lost to plunder and destruction, once looked out over the Atlantean Ocean, a beacon and promise for Atlantean immigrants—and a center of worship for the cult of Nyarlathotep. Now all that remains are piles of stone in the vague outline of the build- ings that once rose atop the seaward clifs, and the catacombs below, where the former residents occa- sionally stir. he dead were supposedly buried with their wealth, but no one who has set out to claim it has returned. Anir’etak has become a holy site of sorts for Nyarlathotep’s cultists.

Eusliv Tower: hree days’ march southward from

the western wall of the glacier Kang stands a mysterious watchtower of ancient elven construction. Said to be a forgotten outpost of the lost realm of Sersidyen, the

Tower of Eusliv is home to a trio of beautiful, alluring, and seemingly ageless women: Piinia and her daughters Kroya and Suya. he three are powerful enchantresses who greet most visitors with lavish hospitality, invei- gling guests with their beauty, kindness, and subtle nets of enchantment. Adventurers trapped by their spells and manipulation are enslaved and condemned to defend the tower or sent across hule on dangerous errands at the trio’s pleasure. hose who ight of the wiles of Piinia, Kroya, and Suya discover a diferent side to the mistresses of Eusliv Tower: hey are powerful succubi who react to rejection with white-hot fury.

he Fleeting Tower: Scouts familiar with the

perimeter of the dark jungle of Dhar Mesh know the legends of the Fleeting Tower. It appears as a watchtower, on a ridge just a little bit farther into the jungle, with a single high window. At the window is a maiden, or a young girl, or a warrior queen, or a decrepit crone—always diferent, but always female. hose who try to approach the tower do not ind it when they emerge from the jungle at its location, as if the tower vanished. But some have reported that upon reaching the tower’s location, they did see the tower, but on a diferent ridge, just a little bit farther into the jungle.

Ghostkeep: Amid verdant farmlands not far from

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tower. he place was once home to a local lord who held sway over surrounding lands by brawn and sword until a traveling peddler brought with him the malady known as the Creeping Plague—so named because it reduces its victims to crawling and inally to creeping slowly on all fours. he disease claimed the lives of the lord and all his household and army. heir ghosts now drift malevolently through the tower and its dungeon levels, clad in crumbling armor and wielding rusting weapons; their hatred for the living goads them to slay all who intrude into the keep. hey all became ghosts, legends whisper, because of a great pulsing gem the lord unearthed in his adventuring days, so strong in its life-force that it keeps the dead from resting and heals the living, even the most sorely-wounded. Many priests, mercenaries, and rulers covet this Gem of Life, and have hired and sent scores of adventurers into Ghostkeep. None have ever returned.

Gyar Gun Vodd: he ice ields of the glacier Kang

hide the terrible and forbidding ruins of Gyar Gunn Vodd, a city built by giants long ago. he ruins are awesome in their proportions, with stair steps fully three feet high and doorways twenty feet tall, but they are so badly weathered that little other evidence of the creatures who lived here once—frost giants, cyclopes, or perhaps even the horrible gugs—remains. Great wells in the ruins lead down to vast vaults beneath Gyar Gunn Vodd.

Helgard Tower: Stories are still told of the Nimo-

than adventurer Brand Helgard, a legendary drag- on-slayer. Not only did Brand slay dragons, he and the band he led captured, tamed, and rode dragons, winging the skies over many lands. With their aid, Helgard killed a cruel lord and seized that ruler’s abode—a huge, stern, square tower of black stone— to be his own fortress. From there he and his warriors fared far over many lands, hunting other dragons and seizing the hoards of those he destroyed. Legends say he inally met a dragon that vanquished him, for sixty years ago Brand Helgard vanished from the earth and has never been seen since. What is known for certain is that Helgard’s band of adventurers are all dead, their gnawed bones littering Helgard Tower, and that a dragon and its young now lurk in the fortress that once belonged to the dragon-slayer.

Hurhun: A little more than a century ago, the

large human city of Hurhun was sacked and burned by the armies of Lomar after a long and bitter war. Its people were dragged of into slavery or driven into exile in the Lands of the Long Shadow. Much of the city has been thoroughly looted several times over, but stories still persist of vaults the Lomari overlooked, as well as famous jewels or noteworthy artifacts that were lost in the last days of the city. Hurhun remains abandoned to this day, although bands of brutal outlaws lurk among the ruins. he bolder ones use Hurhun as a base and raid widely throughout the eastern Kalayan, or ally themselves

with corsairs or slavers from other cities. However, the outlaws are not the only danger in Hurhun—ter- rible monsters such as chimeras, harpies, and manti- cores lurk in some of the ruins, either drawn by the destruction or perhaps freed from some forgotten menagerie.

he Impossible Obelisk: High on the slopes of the

Starcrown Mountains, where the snows never melt and the rocks take on a strange purple hue, a tow- ering obelisk stretches from deep below the ground to impressive heights. Its exterior is disturbingly smooth to touch and is carved from an unknown material; seams, tool marks, and even edges are hard to deine. he obelisk itself would be remarkable, but it also seems to exert a pernicious efect on the land nearby. he structure appears to radiate a souring aura, rapidly spoiling organic matter if it’s already dead. Venturing too close to the obelisk can swiftly foul an entire pack of provisions. In living creatures, this unwholesome aura triggers disturbing dreams and violent urges, causing mental distress rather than physical harm (although the latter often becomes a result of the former).

Most peculiar of all are the tales of great mysteries hidden within the obelisk. Some travelers claim that they have approached the titanic structure and found an archway at the base of its east-facing side. he con- tents of the obelisk difer depending on the teller of the story: Weapons of great might, scrolls of horriic portent, or even the key to immortality are said to be hidden within.

he dungeons beneath the obelisk are home to a strange nonhuman sorcerer known as Tessali the Mind-Mage. Tessali’s origins are unknown, as are its connections to the building of the ancient structure, but the sorcerer has certainly inhabited the location for longer than any record can contradict. Tessali is said to welcome some visitors and enthrall others, occasionally seeking exchanges of eldritch power and knowledge. Undoubtedly malevolent, yet occasion- ally reasonable, Tessali is almost as mysterious as the ediice in which it dwells.

Khoori Vaults: Located in the jungle-covered

foothills of the Starcrown Mountains, this great cave system consists of a series of colossal chambers, some hundreds of feet wide and high enough to enclose a mighty tower. Ancient stone steps follow the course of the subterranean river that carved out these vast caves eons ago, and terrible carvings on some of the more prominent walls depict strange, wormlike beings with tentacles nimble enough to hold tools and weapons. Although no other sign of these monstrous creatures has ever been found, the Vaults of Khoor are so large that a weird (and dangerous) subterranean ecology has developed here, with pale, blind beasts and giant vermin hunting each other in the dark. he deepest of the vaults holds a titanic pit with a ramp-like ledge spiraling down into unfathomable depths, but no explorer has descended into that pit and returned to

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tell the tale. Some speculate that one of the Great Old Ones slumbers below.

Madraal Nessk: his sprawling ruin lies in the

jungles of the Othnan peninsula. Madraal Nessk was the capital of the serpentman empire of Nessk, which was defeated thousands of years ago by the elves and humans who invaded hule in the twilight of the ser- pentmen. In the vaults beneath the city, the serpent- men carried out abominable experiments in breeding and mutation, creating horrible monsters to repel their enemies. Some of these horrors survived the last battles, and their descendants still linger in the black pits beneath jungle-covered ziggurats. Worse yet, hordes of vile troglodytes—once the servants of the serpentmen—are known to infest the ruins.

Mount Niith: A black, fortress-like maze of rock

and ice near the heart of the glacier Kang, Mount Niith is illuminated by eerie auroras in the winter months. Sprawling ruins and ramparts made from gigantic stone blocks stand high on the mountain’s slopes, haunted by unearthly monsters.

Narvondrast: In northeast hule lies the aban-

doned realm of Lendosk, now frozen in the icy depths of Kang, the Pale Death. Some of Lendosk’s towns and castles can still be seen within the translucent ice, which appears to have preserved them rather than crushed them into rubble. Narvondrast is the largest

and best-known of these strange ruins, a whole town imprisoned in ice. Many of its people can be seen in the streets and houses, seemingly lash-frozen even as they attempted to lee the glacier’s supernatural malice. Narvondrast was the capital of Lendosk, a prosperous town once famed for its gold ields and gemstone markets, and many people speculate that its rich treasures still wait for the adventurers bold enough to tunnel through forty feet of ice to the town below.

Obsidian Ziggurat: After the fall of Nessk, a

serpentman high priest turned its back on Set and led its followers in search of a new patron. he apostate’s search led it to an ancient and terrible temple: the Obsidian Ziggurat, a crumbling ediice hidden in a deep cleft of Mount Garat. A long-forgotten race of toadlike troglodytes raised the crude temple to house an idol of Tsathoggua; the fallen priest and its serpentmen pledged themselves to the Sleeping God. In the centuries since, the serpentmen have degener- ated into vile, squamous savages, stealing forth every new moon to ind new oferings for their dark idol. But now the idol stirs in its sleep, and the hour of its awakening draws near.

Sarabhad: Beneath the waters of a long, narrow

lake in the highlands east of Marg lies Sarabhad, once a lively, lawless trading town where two caravan

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routes met. It was drowned one night when a nearby clif collapsed, freeing water to cascade down in a rushing lood that buried or swept away horses, fences, tents, stalls, and encamped travelers. In the morning, when the muddy waters of a new lake lay roiling where a trading town had been, the cellars of Sarabhad, the walls of the sturdiest buildings above them, and the foundations of buildings that had collapsed all lay in the shallow depths.

Sarabhad had been a trading center for silk, gems, and precious metals. Its foremost merchants were fabulously wealthy; any who visited could see that they often produced large amounts of gold in a trice to buy valuable cargoes, and that they lived well, drinking prodigious amounts of wine and dressing in the inest garments. Most of those luxuries are still submerged amid the swirling silt of Sarabhad . . . but now they are guarded by strange aquatic monsters summoned and bred by a cowled igure known only as the Drowned Lord.

From time to time, the Drowned Lord sends wet, slithering tentacled creatures up out of the depths to raid surrounding farms by night and slaughter anyone who dares to camp on the shores of the lake.

he Silent Courts of Droum: A sprawling

necropolis located beneath the city of Droum, the Silent Courts consist of vast ossuaries where thou- sands of people were entombed. he Courts are now overrun by great numbers of ghouls that seem to act with more intelligence and purpose than ghouls are supposed to display. A creature known as Zuur, the Ghoul King, is said to be responsible, but no one knows who or what Zuur may really be.

he Spire of Zahra’anok: In the barren tundra

beneath the long shadow of the glaciers’ inexorable advance, a jagged dagger of volcanic rock rises out of the hard-packed ground at the ice’s edge. his mountain-sized blade cuts into the encroaching glacier, forcing the ice to low to either side of the narrow peak. he rocky spire is criss-crossed with interconnected lava tubes, some accessible at its base, and some from atop the icy glacier. Additional tun- nels extend into the ice of the glacier itself, carved by the insane servants of the Mistress of Kang, a polar eidolon whose heart has been split upon the edge of Zahra’anok. Her minions scour the surrounding lands for captives that may be sacriiced to stave of the destruction of the Mistress’s heart.

Tower of Viondor: he hidden stronghold of a

long-dead Atlantean wizard, the Tower of Viondor stands among icy mountains in the coasts of frozen Nimoth. he tower is said to hold many Atlantean relics, but it is guarded by armored automatons ani- mated by the magic of the tower’s long-dead builder.

Vashana’s Crypt: Under the vast sea of grass that

is the Jandar Plain lies the crypt of Vashana, the irst queen of Kal Keor the Terrible. Vashana was a priest- ess of Asura from Katagia. She met Kal when she ventured into the wilds on a quest to recover a relic

stolen from her temple—the gem called Dawnbringer,

a diamond with magical healing powers. Vashana convinced the young chief and his men to help her. he two set of in pursuit of the thieves, agents of a prince of hran, and recovered the gem. In the process they fell in love, and they earned the hatred of the prince of hran.

Kal Keor married Vashana, and they had a son, Kal Menna. When the boy was only thirteen, the prince of hran struck back. He hired foul sorcerers to alict Vashana with a curse of undeath; Kal was forced to destroy Vashana to save himself and his son. So great was his grief that, for the rest of his life, to speak her name in Kal’s presence meant death. In his rage,