PSCS Outlands Challenge: Dwarven Mountain

This is purely on my behalf and there's not much connected to it at the moment, but it suddenly strikes me that Vergadain's gambling halls could host a small contingent of Ring-Givers from nearby Ysgard. There are a couple of interesting ways in which the gambler's mindset of risk, loss, and payoff interplays with the Ring-Giver's philosophies of giving and receiving.

Brainstorming:

(1) Philosophically, a dedicated Ring-Giver is sure that what he gives away, he'll get back, and more. How does that compare to risking something in a game? You're not giving it away; you're essentially paying it for the uncertain opportunity to get more back. It's almost the opposite of the Ring-Givers. Do they go around preaching against gambling? In that case, they wouldn't be welcome in Vergadain's halls, but they might be able to stay in Brightmantle's. On the other hand, they might be accepting of it, since giving to get is what they believe in. This flavor of Ring-Giver would be philosophically very interested in the ramifications of gambling and how it furthers the cycles of giving. The Ring-Givers here (a sort of Ring-Giver monastery, or pilgrimage site?) might be pretty accomplished gamblers themselves, or poverty-stricken gamblers, or, somehow, both. (Or a mix of the two types, as pilgrims come and go.)

(2) A berk can lose some valuable traits in Vergadain's halls. This makes the interesting opportunity for a Ring-Giver to fulfill a unique and deep need. Perhaps they often have a way of giving something he's lost back to a gambler, in return for an even deeper payment later (somehow they always seem to be owed a favor by someone who can collect the loss on an old debt, or they have their own mysterious ways of simply transferring valuables like a destiny or a level, or maybe they're simply really good at negotiating good value to the petitioner who won the bet, though sometimes, of course, the winner isn't going to give it up). When this loss is something like a cherished memory, or a famous reputation, or something strange like that, you can bet the payment later will be the stuff of legends.

Ulaa's realm, the Iron Hills, should be nearby. Ulaa's a goddess worshiped by dwarves, gnomes, and humans on the world of Oerth - physically, she resembles a dwarf with gnomish features. We don't know officially where in the Outlands it is (features in the Land tend to shift around anyway), but it seems like putting it near Dwarven Mountain would make a lot of sense.

From Dungeon #117:

Ulaa (The Stonewife): An ancient goddess of unknown origins, Ulaa holds earth elementals in thrall with her dominion over hills, mountains, and gemstones. Her clerics protect mountains from those who would enter for the sake of greed or evil, and instruct miners and quarrymen with timelost rituals they claim have been handed down from a civilization extinct more than 10,000 years. [LG; Earth, Good, Law; warhammer; mountain with ruby heart]

Ironridge is pop. 500, mostly petitioners with a few planars and primes. They're nearly all of human origin, too, there to trade or desperate gamblers hoping for a chance at Vergadain's wheels. The two NPCs described are a dwarf and a bariaur, however.

What would petitioners who don't worship the dwarf gods be doing there? Mostly to trade - probably most are neutral souls unaffiliated with any deity, but there might be some from the Marketplace Eternal, or devotees of the Egyptian god Bes (who is on good terms with, and might even be an aspect of, Vergadain).

Demihuman Deities calls the realm "Dwarvish Mountain" for some reason.

The gems in Dumathoin's realm are extremely sacred to the local petitioners, used to bring them to oneness with the realm. There's an illicit trade of these gems that eventually reaches the shadow fiends, thanks to Tarholt of Sigil - the petitioners would be furious to find out about this - he's essentially denying them their eternity for money, so that the shadow fiends can deny the eternities of others.

Sigil and Beyond briefly describes several NPCs from Ironridge and the Mountain: Sedrus Backbreaker (fighter 10 male dwarf, Mercykiller), Melias Fairherd (wizard 7 female bariaur, Society of Sensation); Lzuli Clearfacet (male einheriar bouncer of Vergadain) and his translator; Pyrus Chertchip (male petitioner of Dugmaren Brightmantle); and Steelblade (a male dwarven petitioner brainwashed by Ilsensine).

The key, I think, is to remember that this is the dwarven afterlife - it's Heaven for dwarves who worship those three gods, and probably for most neutral dwarves who don't worship any gods in particular. Perhaps there are petitioners there who have existed in the realm for tens of thousands of years, stubbornly refusing to merge with their deity or the realm. Perhaps some of them originally worshiped older dwarf gods that don't exist anymore, gods that thrived before the current generation of dwarven gods was even born. There might be other beings who preceded the dwarves - as hinted at above in Ulaa's description - alien creatures who claimed the mountain before the dwarven species came to power, creatures whose gods and civilization are long-dead.

"Welcome to eternity. Here's your shovel. Get to work." - A dwarven petitioner, to a new arrival.

Strongale Hall

The Eternal Casino: The Eternal Casino is the most famous and profitable of Strongale Hall's many gambling houses. There are roulette wheels, card games, clockwork slot machines and more, and it's possible to gamble away or to win literally anything imaginable - desperate sods wager their shadows, their souls, their intelligence or strength, their masculinity or femininity, even their divinity. Some just wager jink, and perhaps those are the wisest, if any of the addicts who dwell here can be considered wise.

The Eternal Casino is built like a luxurious palace, entirely beneath the earth, with the walls lined with garish precious metals and gems, fountains flowing with alcoholic beverages, and attractive male and female dwarves attending to a guest's every need - as long as he continues to gamble.

The Infinite Casino: The Infinite Casino is a newer construction, built only a few centuries ago with the intention of creating a rival to the Eternal Casino. The Eternal Casino is certainly vast, but the Infinite Casino is literally unending; a basher can travel as far as she wants and never find a place where the rows of tables and gambling devices end. The petitioners who founded the place made bargains with the petitioners of Soot Hall to devise a way to endlessly replicate the same room over and over again, mysteriously allowing different groups to inhabit the copied rooms without overlapping with those in the others - yet it remains the same room, as anyone who closely examines the scars on the tables or the stains in the carpet will discover. The Infinite Casino offers most of the same services as the Eternal Casino, and it's luxurious and glamorous in its way, but something about its repetitiveness wears at a basher after a while. What happens to rooms when no one is in them is an open question, one some have standing bets on - do they disappear, or do they continue to exist, an infinite sequence of empty rooms extending forever?

The First Casino: It's seen better times, that's for sure, but this establishment has the distinction of being the very first casino opened in Strongale Hall, countless millennia ago when Vergadain was a young deity. It shows - the First Casino lacks the splashy advertisements and master craftsmanship of the Infinite and Eternal Casinos - it's a primitive, even neolithic cavern covered in crude carvings and proto-dwarvish runes. It's still used by some of the older petitioners and those with old-fashioned tastes, but the petitioners who run it have obdurately resisted redecorating it with more modern luxuries.

There are rumors that the First Casino originally served some other purpose before Vergadain claimed this realm, and that older, virtually dead gods still maintain some kind of presence within the wall carvings, subtly guiding the movement of the sticks, the colored stones and bone dice that make or break the patrons here.

The Last Casino: Much older than the Infinite Casino, the Last Casino is named not for its age but for its status as a "last chance" for those who are no longer welcome in any other casinos in the realm. The Last Casino has the worst odds and the least friendly staff of all the realm's casinos, but people continue to patronize it out of sheer desperation. The Last Casino permits more extreme betting than the other casinos, too - a berk can gamble away not just pieces of their talents or souls, but their whole existences all at once, or even the existences of their servants and family. The staff lacks the professional or personal ethics of the other casinos, and their punishments for those who default on their bets can be hideous.

Hall of Indebted Souls: Most of those left with debts they cannot pay are imprisoned here, in the Hall of Indebted Souls, to work off what they owe until their creditors are satisfied. Debtors are often transformed into the shapes their employers find most convenient - often dwarves, but also pack animals or even inanimate objects.

The Hall's Edge Saloon: One of countless alehalls in the realm, The Hall's Edge Saloon has the distinction of being the tavern nearest the shaft leading to Soot Hall. Travelers and petitioners from both realms often frequent it, engineers and craftsfolk devoted to Dugmaren Brightmantle fraternizing with merchants and rogues worshipping Vergadain. Here, deals are made and celebrated.

Hanseath's realm: Hanseath, god of alcohol, carousing, and warfare, may seem more suited for Ysgard than the Outlands, but he fits in perfectly with the raucas atmosphere of Strongale Hall and couldn't imagine dwelling anywhere else. Hanseath's petitioners are often battleragers and berserkers, and can cause trouble in those taverns frequented also by Vergadain's faithful, as well as occasionally tearing up sections of casinos. Hanseath himself makes sure to pay for his followers' mistakes, but some followers of Vergadain wish that Hanseath would go to Ysgard and leave them alone. Still, Hanseath is a valued member of the Morndinsamman, and for every Vergadainite who complains there's one who enjoys nothing more than to share a drink with a fun-loving follower of Hanseath.

Hanseath's petitioners often travel to other planes to battle orcs, goblins, and giant-kin. They have a rivalry of sorts with the warriors of Clangeddin Silverbeard in Arcadia, and can sometimes be seen in gate-towns and Sigil arguing drunkenly with Clangeddin's stern soldiers.

Diinkarazan's former realm: Before his banishment, the dwarven god of madness dwelled in Strongale Hall. In those days he was considered merely eccentric, a quirky godling fond of socializing, often seen in the company of his older and cleverer brother Diirinka. After Diirinka betrayed him to Ilsensine, Diinkarazan's tiny hall was left abandoned, his few petitioners without a patron. Still, Diinkarazan is not dead, and he continues to exert some influence over it. Diinkarazan's realm is a horrific place tainted by the tortured insanity of its master, full of terrible visions and demonic vestiges. It is carefully avoided by the wise, though some have tried to hide here to avoid debt collectors. Occasionally debt collectors will hire adventurers from outside the mountain to capture those so foolish, or to capture what's left of them.

Adventure hooks in Strongale Hall:

- A mercantile group hostile to the PCs, such as the Planar Trade Consortium, baatezu servants of Dispater, or the tso, have come to Vergadain's palace to gain an exclusive contract with the god. The PCs follow them there in order to outbid them or otherwise destroy their credibility or bodies before they can do so. Perhaps they'll get the contract instead, or perhaps they'll be satisfied just making their enemies suffer. Perhaps they'll save a world or nation from exploitation in the process.

- A contact of the PCs has been imprisoned in the Hall of Indebted Souls, and the PCs need to bargain for a way to get that contact free if they're to learn important information from him/her, or to pay that contact back for a previous favor.

- A Sensate takes the PCs to Strongale Hall (through a temporary portal in Sigil) for a night of gambling and debauchery. They may just amuse themselves gambling what they can afford, or they may end up in trouble with the local authorities. Maybe their portal will shift or close unexpectedly, and they'll be forced to get back to the City of Doors the long way, traveling through Gzemnid's realm to Glorium, and from there to Rowan's Hall in Ysgard and thence to the Hall of Records.

- The PCs are hired (perhaps to help pay their debts or another's) to chase down debtors hiding first among the berserkers of Hanseath's hall, and finally in the maddening ruins of Diinkarazan's home.

- Someone in Sigil or elsewhere has a craving for fine dwarven ale, and sends the PCs to collect the finest dwarven ale in the multiverse. In one of Strongale Hall's many breweries, the petitioners are having trouble with an infestation of mischievous fey, or one of the batches is contaminated by evil forces (perhaps from Ilsensine's realm), or a still suddenly stops working when a petitioner "ascends" to become one with it - the PCs have to convince it that this is a false ascension, and to merge with Vergadain or Hanseath instead, if they want free beer. Beer brewed by ancient petitioners in the realm of a god may have exotic properties, like the ability to heal unusual curses or make those who imbibe it drunk forever.