Warlord Wednesday: Tower of Fear

Let's enter the lost world with another installment of my issue by issue examination of DC Comic's Warlord, the earlier installments of which can be found here...

"Tower of Fear"

Warlord (vol. 1) #10 (December 1977-January 1978)

Written and Illustrated by Mike Grell

Synopsis: Morgan, Machiste, and Mariah are riding through the jungle when Morgan catches sight of a megalithic cirlce--where it appears a human sacrifice about to take place! In righteous fury, Morgan charges in and cuts down the purlpe-robed cultists. By the time Machiste and Mariah arrive, Morgan's escued the beautiful, intended sacrifce.

The girl protests that Morgan shouldn't have interfered. Her name is Ashiya, and she was chosen to be sacrificed so that the Mask of Life, a national symbol which had been taken from her people in conquest, would be returned to them. Morgan asks why they just don't take it back, and Ashiya replies that they have no warrior mighty enough to retrieve it from the Tower of Fear.

So of course, we next find our heroes at the base of a forbodding black tower. There are strange gargoyles, suspended in the air on floating discs, but not guards. No one who's entered has ever survived to tell of the horrors within. Morgan is confident he and Machiste will, but adds that the "ladies better stay here." Mariah is incensed at his chauvinistic attitude, and bets that she can reach the top of the tower before the two men. Grinning, Morgan and Machiste accept, and ask for the stakes...

The heroes enter the tower's doors, and see a spiral stair. Before Mariah can enter, Morgan slams the door shut. He still thinks its too dangerous for her. The two warriors mount the staircase, which spirals ever upward into darkness, to the heart of the tower. They haven't gone far before they're startled by transparent, eerie green tendrils materializing to grasp at them. In a moment, they're fighting in the grip of a gelatinous one-eyed creature--with a hungry maw!

Desperate, Morgan cuts through the tentacle holding him, and dives sword first, driving his blade into the creature's eye. The creature howls in pain, but by the time Morgan has regained the stair, it's disappeared--"gone back into whatever hell spawned it!"

Morgan and Machiste finish the climb without incident, and find themselves at a narrow bridge, crossing to a door. As soon as their on the bridge, a vortex of energy grows out of the darkness in front of them, and begins to disgorge demonic humanoids of various forms. Morgan and Machiste do battle with the creatures, but realize they have to find a way around the warp. They decide to slide under it, and Machiste does. Morgan, still cleaving demons, is right behind.

Opening the door allows light to flood in, which causes the demons to move away. Morgan and Machiste get through the door and close it behind them, leaning against it in fatigue from the their trials. That's when a voice says: "I was beginning to think you'd never get here."

A smug Mariah lounges, twirling what's apparently the Mask of Life around her finger. Mariah explains to the flummoxed heroes that, while they relied on brawn, she used her brains and observed that the gargoyles at the tower's base sat on anti-gravity discs. She road one up to the top like an elevator.

Their quest completed, the three's combined weight allows them to ride the disc back down. They give the mask to the grateful Ashiya, and Mariah reminds the two men that its time to pay up on the bet. A little later, the three ride away, with Machiste complaining his crown doesn't fit as well on his newly shaved head. Morgan vows not to underestimate Mariah again--or to make anymore bets with her.

Elsewhere, Ashiya drops her magical disguise, and reveals herself to be an old witch. She gloats over duping Morgan, her master's enemy, as she places the mask of life on the face of the body before her. The body seizes, then rises to a sitting position. The man removes the mask to reveal the newly-scarred visage of a resurrected Deimos!

Things to Notice:

• Our heroes tend to believe stories told to them by beautiful damsels in distress without any real verification.
• Morgan somehow didn't have to do anything to make good on the bet with Mariah.
• This is the first appearance of Machiste's classic, bald look.

Where It Comes From:
This issue has a real "sword and sorcery" feel. The title recalls the likes of Howard's "Tower of the Elephant", Leiber's "The Howling Tower", and Moorcock's "The Vanishing Tower", to name a few. The materializing tentacled beast, recalls the extradimensional Thog of Robert E. Howard's "Xuthal of the Dusk" (also called "The Slithering Shadow") which first appeared in Weird Tales in 1933:

 ...and was adapted in Savage Sword of Conan #20:

An Annotated Appendix N for Arn

For those who follow, or have occasionally enjoyed, my posts on my current campaign setting--the continent of Arn--I thought the a lists of its inspirations might prove of interest.  There are a myriad of smaller inspirations (including a lot of nonfiction) which have added details to "fill out" the whole, but these are the biggest influences, and the reasons why:

Books:
James Branch Cabell. Jurgen, The Silver Stallion, and Figures of Earth (in order of influence). Cabell's ironic tone and mannered, roguish characters, are a big influence on how I portray NPCs in the campaign, and the elaborate, almost farcical cosmology, has some influence on the world's interactions with the multiverse.

Robert E. Howard. While I love Howard's work, he's not a big influence of the current conception of Arn, but "The Hyborian Age" essay was one of the earliest influences, and I can still see its traces.

Fritz Leiber. The Fafhrd & Gray Mouser stories. Beyond the "implied setting" of D&D, these are probably the biggest inspiration. "Ill Met in Lankhmar", "The Adept's Gambit", and "The Cloud of Hate" are probably the most pertinent.

Clark Ashton Smith. The tales of Hyperborea were a strong general inspiration, and to a slightly lesser extent the Zothique cycle stories, particularly "The Back Abbot of Puthuum." The tales of Averoigne were influential on the development of Llys and the Llysans (particularly "The Holiness of Azédarac", "The Disinterment of Venus", and "Mother of Toads").

Games:
Aaron Allston.  Wrath of the Immortals.  Though I not a fan of much of its execution, the basic portrayal and conception of the Mystaran Immortals influenced the Ascended of the world of Arn a great deal.

Frank Mentzer.  BECMI Dungeons & Dragons.  The "end game" of immortality was the inspiration for ascension, and the seed of much of Arnian religion.

TV & Film:
Deadwood (2004).  The almost faux-Shakespearean but profanity laced dialogue of the folk of Deadwood, is how I imagine the urban-dwellers of Arn talking--but never seen to remember to try to replicate in play. Ah well. The mire streets, and ramshackle brothels and taverns of Deadwood also have a place in the Arnian aesthetic.

Reservoir Dogs (1992) and Pulp Fiction (1994).  Tarantino's loquacious rogues are good models of Arnian adventurers.

Swords in Space!: Iron-Wolf

In 1973, in the seventh issue of DC Comic's Weird Worlds, readers were told that the title would no longer feature Edgar Rice Burroughs adaptations. Instead, the next issue would debut a new creation from Howard (then Howie) Chaykin--Iron-Wolf. Chaykin said his intentions with Iron-Wolf were to "combine elements of those magnificent swashbuckling films--Sea Hawk, Captain Blood, Robin Hood--in a cosmic setting." The result was a space opera adventure like a mix of Dune and Flash Gordon--three years before Star Wars.

The saga begins in the 61st Century with Lord Iron-Wolf defying Empress Erika Klein-Hernandez of the Empire Galaktika. He's angry because she's selling the secret of human space travel--an anti-gravity wood grown on his homeworld of Illium--to barbaric aliens. Iron-Wolf turns rebel--and pirate. Along the way he crosses swords and exchanges blaster fire with the ogrish aliens, and his traitorous brother. At that's only in his first appearance!

The following issues feature disguise as Shakespearean actors, clashes with the Empress' vampiric Blood Legion (all of whom we see, interestingly, are black), and disillusionment as the democratic rebels Iron-Wolf joins prove to be involved in the trafficking of a dangerous drug. And...that was it. Unfortunately, Weird Worlds was on life-support when Iron-Wolf strode into its pages. It expired with issue 10, just three issues later.

Luckily, wooden spaceships and vampire legions proved too cool to stay in comics limbo forever. In 1992, writers Chaykin and John Francis Moore, with the artistic dream-team of Mike Mignola and P. Craig Russell returned to the character with Ironwolf: Fires of Revolution.

The graphic novel reworks some of the conceptual elements. The so-called Empire Galaktika is now a small, "backwater" entity. The characters' fashions move from hippie-meets-disco to sampling a bit of both the Victorian and Restoration eras. The technology is a little bit less space opera and a little bit more steampunk. The story's different, too--a little less adventurous, and taking a darker, more cynical tone as it's fit into Chaykin's retconning of DC's science fiction characters in the Twilight limited series. Still, it gives Iron-Wolf's saga an ending, and has really gorgeous art.

Toward A Hard-boiled Fantasy Sandbox

"Walk down the right back alley...and you can find anything."
- Sin City (2005)

Folks of a poetical inclination have called the City "unnamed."  Truth is, the City has too many monikers for anybody to know them all. But you say "the City," and everybody from yokels up in the Smaragdine Mountains, to the newsie on the corner knows where you mean. There was a city here before it became the City, you know?  Then some swell got himself itch to be an emperor and brought the five baronies together. So here we are, and that swell got his empire, but maybe it didn't turn out the way he thought. The City doesn't need soldiers or armies when it's got commerce and style.

Alright, maybe they've got all the movie stars--and most of the sunshine--out there in Hesperia, but all the other culture's right here. Ships come into this harbor from all over the world--bringing stuff to sell, bringing people. And a lot of the decide to stay.  You go to the right neighborhood and you'll swear you got dropped into some foreign country. And the nightlife? This town jumps, friend. From low-class gin-dives to tony swing-clubs, it roars.  I'd steer clear of the hinky alchemical liquors, though.  Word to the wise.

Now, those joints I was talking about are full of would-be toughs and hard-cases come here to make a name for themselves. They go ransack the ruins the Old Ones, left all over the countryside, then they come to the City to sell their haul and hit the town. City-folk are happy to separate a rube from his money. Gin, jazz, janes--you know, whatever. Guys can make money too, if they know were to look. The gang bosses that run the streets always got a need for muscle, or a little cheap wizardry. Sometimes the ghouls from Undertown get kind of rowdy, and the coppers start looking for guys to deputize, too. Or maybe the rail-yards are looking for bulls to crack a few goblin skulls. Then of course there are bounties on monsters that need killing.  What, you think there's only gold down in those ruins? Anyway, you get the idea. There's dough to be had, and plenty.

So welcome to the City.  Have a good visit--but watch yourself, pal, things can get rough.

You Meet in A Tavern...

Ah...but which one?

Here are a couple of answers to that question from the streets of Terminus, city on the River Fflish, in the south of Arn.

The Green Griffin Inn
The Griffin is a sometimes rough, always busy inn and tavern favored by adventurers new to town. There is a 50% chance of a fight of some sort erupting on any given evening. The lower level holds a common room with several tables, a bar, and a kitchen in the back. The upper floor holds a small number of rooms. The laconic barkeep is named Azgull, but called Az. He's a black-haired and moustached man of middle-years, often with a severe expression and wary eyes. He's also a former adventure (Fighter 4). He'll answer reasonable questions about what he's seen or heard (in as few words as possible), but when he's done, he's done, and no amount of charm will cajole more. Coin occasionally will.

There are usually 1-2 serving wenches working at all but the latest hours. They sometimes make extra money from prostitution, or by selling-out hiding lawbreakers to the City Watch. There's a 30% change that one of the barmaids on duty at any given time is Not What She Seems.

The proprietor of the Griffin is Gelsh Zem, called "Gelsh the Whiner" (behind his back). Gelsh is a smallish, balding man, with eyes that dart like spooked birds, and a bobbing Adam's apple. His anxiety is no doubt increased by the fact that the previous owner (his uncle) was slain by a drunken Kael barbarian a few months ago. Gelsh speaks in an overly officious manner, and is obsequious to the those he from whom he has something to gain, and rude to those he views as beneath him.

The Lion's Den Alehouse
Located near public baths catering to soldiers, and former soldiers, the Lion's Den tends to attract a warrior clientele, though its not exclusive. There are rarely any fights in the Lion's Den. It's the best protected tavern in the city--though this does not mean on duty watchmen are welcome.  The structure is a long hall, popularly believed to have been the mead-hall of a Kael chieftain when Terminus was only a village, called Meln. Long tables with benches run down the center of the room, with small, round tables in the more private periphery. All of the wall decorations have a martial theme. 

The proprietress of the Den is called Deela. She is handsome, well-muscled woman with mannishly short, blonde hair. She's friendly, but no nonsense, as those that cross her discover. Though she only ever speaks of her past obliquely, she is an Arnian peasant girl turned camp-follower of a mercenary company, then mercenary, and finally, mercenary captain. She respects skill and arms, but also artistic talent--a former lover, for whom she still carries a torch, was an actress and musician. The Den is run with military precision by a former sergeant (Fighter 5) of her company, Bernal Obrek, a ruddy-complected, bear of a man, with a bald head and thick moustache. Bernal is a fine cook--and deadly with an iron-banded cudgel or, should the need arise, a warhammer. If Bernal takes to a visitor, he will point them in the direction of the patrons who are likely to be the highest paying employers.

At any given time, the Lion's Den will be patronized by mercenaries looking for work, or captains looking to hire fighting-men. Protecting caravans from Kael banditry, or pacifying rebels or bandits (the two typically being one in the same) in the Dharwood. There is a 30% chance that there will be a Llysan filibuster or their agents present to recruit the gullible or desperate for conquest and glory.  They promise pay, and ultimately, land in the conquered territory to any man who will follow.

Peoples of Arn: the Hazandi

The itinerant and enigmatic Hazandi can be found throughout the known world, but their numbers are larger in Arn than anywhere save the petty kingdoms of Erida's Bandit Lands. An ancient and fiercely independent folk, Hazandi wander in caravans, travelling wherever they will. This tendency, abetted by their insular nature, no doubt forms the basis of the distrust with which they are sometimes viewed. The Hazandi hold their way of life as part an ancient agreement struck between them and the two gods (a male principle and a female principle) which they believe rule the universe. They assert that the twin deities will provide for any Hazandi--so long as he or she is wise enough to make use of their divine generosity. Usually this means living off the land's bounty, but it can also be applied to exploiting the needs or gullibility of outsiders. Their caravans visit the towns and villages of settled folk to trade items acquired in their wanderings, earn coin by entertaining, fortune-telling or hawking folk remedies—and on occasion outright theft from the unwary.

Hazandi have their own form of mysticism, which likely has its origins in the vast lands of Urda, east of the Eridan continent. They commune with their twin gods, consult ancestral spirits, and treat with lesser spirits of nature, through the use hallucinogenic substances, and ecstatic rituals. Hazandi women in particular, are held both within their culture and without, to be born with the second-sight, and ability to perceive invisible spirits. The Hazandi spiritual system is strongly aniconic, but they often scandalize other cultures with their frequent use of erotic representations, particularly of generative organs in various degrees of stylization.

Hazandi bands are often made up of a few extended families. Bands are led by a headman, but all adult members of the tribe are allowed to speak at councils. Women are usually the spiritual leaders, and magical ability is thought to pass through maternal lines. Hazandi of both sexes join secret societies whose membership reaches across bands. Each society has its role in Hazandi culture, and its own closely guarded rituals.

Hazandi typically have tanned to olive skin tones. Their hair color ranges from auburn to black and is often worn long by both men and women. Tattooing is not uncommon among the women of the Arnian Hazandi, who favor geometric patterns on their arms and hands, or sometimes cheeks. Hazandi dress is colorful compared to the other folk of Arn, and when entertaining, often revealing.

MANY HAZANDI (Roll d20, 3 times):

1. Can play a musical instrument.

2. Don't reveal their real name to outsiders.

3. Swear "by the holy tryst!"

4. Believe in the evil eye.

5. Wear rings on multiple fingers.

6. Can do card tricks.

7. Sing bawdy songs.

8. Will sale a nostrum remedium to anyone with any ailment.

9. Like to party with elves.

10. Seem to be related to every other Hazandi they meet.

11. Know someone who can sell you what you're looking for.

12. Speak Common with an accent.

13. Claim that talk of Hazandi thievery is a slander.

14. Have a "grandmother" with the second-sight.

15. Challenges others to knife throwing contests.

16. Has tattoos.

17. Has pierced ears and a pierced nose.

18. Can walk a coin across their knuckles.

19. Thinks Llysans are prudes.

20. Will remind Kael of their cultural blood-pact, if necessary.

SOME HAZANDI (d10, once)

1. Have the power to lay a curse upon dying.

2. Are on a secret mission for the society of which they're a member.

3. Are outcasts under a mark of death.

4. Have the second-sight (or think they do).

5. Are of another race, but were raised Hazandi.

6. Have a portentous birthmark.

7. Are running an elaborate confidence game.

8. Have taken a non-Hazandi name.

9. Always draw attention with their manner of dress.

10. Have a twin with whom they share a psychic connection (or so they say).

Every Picture Tells A Story

Here are some pics I gathered.  Some were snagged for posts already written, but unused.  Others have yet to find their proper place...

The streets of Terminus, in southern Arn, at nightfall...

An audience with an Onirean potentate...

Pnathfrem Lloigor, crime boss in Terminus, finds your story dubious...

Eerily, the Priest-King's concubine looks just as she must have in life, despite the millenia that have passed...