The keeper may wish to skip ahead to where the party enters the gorge area but a few normal en- counters with regular Tibetans may help build some suspense and lull the investigators into a false sense of security.
Following are a number of events that the keep- er can choose to use during their journey: • On the way to the entrance to the under-
ground river, the investigators will meet up with a monk who will give them a vague prophecy, “The answers to overcoming an obstacle will be found in the white city. He from afar can take you to the first amongst kings who will provide you with an answer’. If they press the monk for more informa- tion, he will simply smile and slowly shake his head and then enter into intense medi- tation from which the investigators are un- able to disturb him. Should the investiga- tors be crass enough to attack the monk he
• From time to time a random investigator may see something, out of the corner of their eye, that appears to be stalking them. When they turn towards the motion all they see is either a small clump of vegetation or a small rock formation. Some of the mo- tion that they detect is actually a zoog that has entered the edge of the Waking World from the Dreamlands and has deduced that is where the investigators party is traveling towards. It has decided that it will follow them and see if they are potential enemies or friends and may seek out one individu- al to communicate with. Statistics for the creature are listed at the end of the scenar- io. Occasionally, allow an investigator to at- tempt a Spot Hidden check, allowing them to catch a brief glimpse of the strange crea- ture with the tentacles on its face.
• At this point the investigators may be un- easy about some of the events that have oc- curred and want to turn back. The keeper should remind them that they are under contract from their company to perform a on top of it. A short while later, and with-
out seeing where they come from, a group of five young monks accompanied by two older ones are seen across the stream. These monks are wearing undecorated grey robes and do not seem to notice the investigators and their bearers. While the investigators watch, the young monks bare their upper bodies and sit silently in the snow while the older monks soak some blankets in the freezing mountain stream. The blankets are placed on the bare skin of the sitting monks and moments later steam begins to rise from the blankets. The snow closes in again and the investigators lose sight of the monks and must take shelter in their tents for the night. In the morning there is no sign of the monks or the monastery.
• The trail that the investigators are follow- ing passes by a small monastery. It is a re- mote training and meditation center for the Gekor Lamas. When the investigators are spotted six dob-dobs depart the monastery to block the path. They have black stripes painted on their foreheads and around their right arms and each is bearing a fierce looking whip. Behind them stands an elder- ly Lama in bright robes who proclaims that the “Sahibs can not pass and must imme- diately depart”. If the investigators do not produce the document provided to them by the Dalai Lama the dob-dobs will use their whips to entangle any mounted investiga- tors and pull them to the ground. The dob- dobs are fiercely loyal to the Gekor Lama and will fight to the death. Any bearers see- ing investigators kill or injure dob-dobs or the Gekor Lama, may flee out of the terror that this act inspires in them. If the Gekor Lama is immediately presented with the document from the Dalai Lama, he will in- vite the investigators into the small court- yard of the monastery for food and refresh- ments. The monks are not curious about where the path travels to further along the gorge and cannot provide any information.
Dreaming of the River of Night - Secrets of Tibet survey and that Westerners having access to
Tibet is so rare that most people in their po- sition would jump at the opportunity that has presented itself to them. Failing that, if a keeper wants to forcefully save the scenar- io, they may create a rock slide to block the investigators retreat.
Over a period of several days there is a gradu- al awareness that the investigators have entered into another world. On the first night a few mi- nor items will go missing, like a pen or a piece of cookware. On the second night, modern items turn into a Dreamlands equivalent. Rifles will turn into bows, handguns will turn into slings, pocket watches turns into hourglasses. These changes are permanent and returning to the waking world does not revert the changed items to their original forms.
Investigators leading their expedition through the narrow gorges soon note that the walls above them narrows substantially as they press on. They will soon find themselves traveling though dark and ominous tunnels. Gradually the tunnels grow lighter and the investigators note that there is some sort of phosphores- cent substance coating the roof of the tunnels. Further along the gorge, investigators who have skills in Botany, Natural World, or any other appropriate science field, may attempt a skill roll. Success allows them to spot large plants that have not been seen on Earth for over 370 million years. These are prototax- ites, some over three feet in diameter and over twenty five feet high. These are not actually plants in the modern sense, but an ordered mass of fungus or lichens.
The tunnel enters through a side channel of the river that has slow moving but very dark and deep water. At one point sunlight slants down through the steep canyon and illumi- nates the water ahead. In the depths the inves- tigators can see a ruined city with cyclopean towers and what appear to be large ominous shapes slowly moving amongst them. One of the shapes detaches itself from the ruins and begins a slow, ponderous ascent towards the
boaters. It is impossible to tell how deep it is and how soon it will reach the surface, but as the boaters pass over it and look down they must make a Sanity check (1/1D3). The group passes beyond the ruins and around a bend long before the creature can reach the surface. If they elect to stick around have a few long tentacles break the surface nearby and grope around in an attempt to grab a random per- son from the boats with a 30% chance of hit- ting each round (Build 1). Anybody grabbed is immediately pulled beneath the surface of the river and should attempt an opposed STR roll vs. the creature’s Strength of 50 to break free each round thereafter. Those caught un- derwater lose 1D4 hit points per round un- til freed (apply drowning rules after the first round of being submerged).
Paddling throughout the day will allow the boats to arrive within a broad and sandy floored cavern where there is evidence of past encamp- ments. There are also indications of the sea- sonal nature of the river, since on the higher ground are tangled piles of dried tree limbs and matted vegetable matter.
The group finds a very large chamber where they believe that there might be gems and min- eral veins a few hundred feet from the water. Any mining experts within the group will au- tomatically know that this is a good spot to set up camp for several days to determine the viability of mining. Over a two day period in- dividual members of the group should find small, one ounce or less, gold nuggets and tiny, but valuable, gemstones. Geologists may be puzzled about how these two very different types of valuable minerals would be present at the same site. For now, this will remain a mystery to them.
Anybody actively searching the area has a chance, with a successful Spot Hidden roll, to find a partially buried human skeleton. Upon moving it, they will see what appears to be a large diamond (six carats) fused to the skull in the center of the forehead. It is relatively easy to pry the gemstone loose from the bone and anybody picking it up in the bare hand
will note that it feels icy cold. This artifact was once known in the Dreamlands as the Eye of Pemba. When the stone is first touched, the person must make an opposed POW roll, with the stone having a POW of 75. If the person loses, they follow through on the urge to touch the stone to their forehead. Anybody nearby watching who sees this happening may attempt a maneuver to prevent this from happening.
The diamond opens a users third eye in ex- change for the gemstone consuming 1D10 of the user’s POW. The stone has two functions; the first is that it provides a bonus die to any POW roll; the second, that it gives the user limited command over shantaks, permitting the user to summon one per day, and direct them to perform as mounts, carry out a task or guard an area. Sanity losses for seeing a shantak still apply until the summoner has lost the maximum amount of six points for viewing these creatures.
After several days of exploring the site, the investigators are awakened one morning to hear a terrible roar. Upon investigating they see a small side tunnel that is being widened by a very large and horrible creature. This is
a gug that has detected their presence and is frustrated by the small size of the tunnel that it is attempting to pass though. Any of the bearers still with the expedition grab what they can and flee in terror, ignoring anybody attempting to stop them. If the investigators attempt to stop them by force they will try to fight their way free with fists and knives.
At this point the investigators should be made aware that the gug is almost through the wall of the tunnel and will soon be upon them. They may flee into any of the small side tunnels that are far too small for the gug to fit into.
While the investigators are fleeing through the tunnel, the zoog that has been following them continues its pursuit. It will speak to them and offer its services as a guide through the tunnels, perhaps for some small reward of the keeper’s choosing, leading them to the exit that comes out in the Tanarian Hills near Celephais. If the investigators attempt to at- tack the zoog and do not kill it on the first round, it escapes, and from that point they will be attacked every time they meet a member of that species. Without the aid of a guide it
Dreaming of the River of Night - Secrets of Tibet will take the investigators several days to find
their way to the exit, and by the time they leave the tunnels they will be weak from thirst and hunger (penalty die on all physical rolls until they have rested).