Across The Gulf - A1 Slave Pits of the Undercity By David "Zeb" Cook & Castles & Crusades Greyhawk

 "It is time to put a stop to the marauders! For years the coastal towns have been burned and looted by the forces of evil. You and your fellow adventurers have been recruited to root out and destroy the source of these raids—as hundreds of good men and women have been taken by the slavers and have never been seen or heard from again!" 

A1 Slave Pits of the Undercity By David "Zeb" Cook is set firmly within the Greyhawk region of Highport, a city south of the Wild Coast, in the Pomarj — a peninsula overrun by humanoids. Right out of the gate we've got the humanoid tribes and forces being incredibly organized & coordinated. And this goes back into the fact that A1 is perfect for bridging the gap between dungeon exploration and solid cooperative game play by the players. For 1981 or so A1 was a turning point in our campaigns with my uncle as DM. The humanoid armies of Chaos and Despair were on the move. Let's get A1 Slave pits of the Undercity's history out of the way;"A1: "Slave Pits of the Under City" (1980), by David "Zeb" Cook is the first of the "A" Slave Lords adventures. It was published in October 1980" 
The humanoid armies are highly organized and this recalls the  solid Sword & Sorcery style affair of A1  in the vein of a Robert Howard Conan story. There's lots & lots of Orientalist Hobgoblins throughout the A series. 

The Hobgoblin mercenary forces have been sent forth by the Orge Magi khanate and want to take slavers on behalf of the ruling Slavers council. These forces had crossed over from Castles & Crusades Mythos Earth
And all of the action is set around the fact that the PC's are going to get dragged into  the  middle of the conflict with the 'slavers' in the Drachensgrab Hills fortress in A2. This of course ties back into what we discussed yesterday on the blog here. 

Throughout A1 the PC's are going to have to cooperate because of the fact that the humanoids are of a slightly higher technological axoim and hit the skids at a late Roman Empire. So there are shades of Adventurer, Conqeuror, King here. We've got the party struggling through monsters, several puzzles, and perhaps a side quest in A1. 
Dungeon #221 (December 2013) contains the adventure " Lowdown in Highport" and this is the prequel adventure to A1. Here we get an overview of the machinations of the humanoid forces that come to dominate Highport. Again the Slavers series is firmly set within Greyhawk. 
All of these events are set firmly within Greyhawk meaning that we have the perfect blend to present the beginnings of a Castles & Crusades Sword and Sorcery Greyhawk campaign set within Highport. Since there's very little written about Highpoint its the perfect opportunity for the DM to make the city thier own. They could return to it after the 'Slavers' series to rebuild. 
But why would the humanoids descend on highport? And the answer is the human resources found within the city. Both as a slave and food source for the coming days. The Slavers crossing from one plane to another descending on highport smacks of desparation. 
Hobgoblins and the humanoid armies are perfectly suited to raiding the humans and then dominating the lands around them. There's plenty of time for adventurers to get way in over thier heads. Especially since the humanoids dominate  the Drachensgrab Hills 

 The humanoid tribes of   the Drachensgrab Hills pave the way for the hobgoblin armies with orcs, flinds, and gnolls playing thier part in the take over. They get thier share of human slaves and chattle.. 

Across the Gulf - In A2 Secret of the Slavers Stockade By Harold Johnson & Tom Moldvay & Castles & Crusades Greyhawk

 The battle against the slavers continues! You and your fellow adventurers have defeated the slavers of Highport, but you have learned of the existence of another slaver stronghold, and you have decided to continue the attack. But beware! Only the most fearless of adventurers could challenge the slavers on their own ground, and live to tell of it!

Secret of the Slaver's Stockade was the Summer of 82's most dangerous module for me where five PC's died and the spider cult wasn't doing resurrections. A2 Secret of The Slaver's Stockade puts the party in the middle of the conflict with the 'slavers' in the Drachensgrab Hills & one of their fortresses

"Secrets of the Slavers Stockade was published by TSR in 1981 as a thirty-two page booklet with an outer folder, and was written by Harold Johnson and Tom Moldvay.^[7] The cover artwork by Jim Roslof features a drawing of two hobgoblins, one of which is a sergeant with a leashed boggle, and a party of adventurers."

The entire module smacks of a solid Sword & Sorcery style affair in the vein of a Robert Howard Conan story. There's lots & lots of Orientalist Hobgoblins throughout A2. This is one of those modules that has a strange other wilderness feel that ties in with the pulpy corruption of T1-4 The Temple of Elemental Evil. This makes A2 Secret of The Slaver's Stockade perfect for using with a Barbarian Warlords of Greyhawk campaign. The fact is that hobgoblins are a perfect up tier monster from the traditional 'pig faced orcs' that most starter AD&D first edition adventures seem rife with. I've always thought of Dungeons & Dragon hobgoblins as semi demonic left over monsters from the Pre- Biblical Flood years who had a Mongolian style empire ruled by elite 'demonic Orge Magi wizard tyrants'. The society's Fall came with the Flood & they've never quite recovered. This ties right into both a Greyhawk's Slavers reaching into other worlds and having  A2 Secret of The Slaver's Stockade tie into a Castles & Crusades Mythos Earth jumping over to Greyhawk to steal slaves and resources. 


 Now given some of aspects of A2 Secret of The Slaver's Stockade its easy to see that the technological levels late Roman Empire of ACK's easily though out the module. Its quite easy to see that the PC's are going to have several adventure messes through out the module with some side puzzles & minor side quests. There are several locations in A2 Secret of The Slaver's Stockade module that could be seized as holdings by the PC's. They'll need to leave behind trusted hirelings to control them. These are perfect areas to act as tribal ins for warriors to breech into the lands that the hobgoblins have seized control of. These wildernesses areas of Drachensgrab Hills seem the type of areas that have been infected with the Chaos energies of the Temple of Elemental Evil. There are tons of monsters that seem to dip on the pulp bucket; things such as the the boggle, the cloaker, the haunt, and the phantom. These would later feature in the Monster Manual II & could be used to highlight adventure encounter to foreshadow the next adventure Assault on the Aerie of the Slave Lords.


A2 Secret of The Slaver's Stockade is one of those modules that's completely centered & plugged into the Greyhawk campaign setting's wilderness. The adventure features an overland wilderness  of 110 miles (177 kilometers) through the Drachensgrab Hills  and offers plenty of opportunities for adventurers to get in way in over their heads. If we're using Castles & Crusades then the the Drachensgrab Hills becomes the center of the Sword & Sorcerous action easily. And it can also be used as the basis for the character's campaign setting. 

Castles & Crusades can help with the NPC factions of  A2 Secret of The Slaver's Stockade. These include several references  to help flesh out the plunder, tribal status, & how it affects both the party & community. A2 Secret of The Slaver's Stockade remains an old favorite because its very easy to adapt as an adventure to many classic AD&D first edition games as well as BECMI D&D with some adaption on the dungeon master's side of the screen.  For Castles & Crusades the jump of the Slavers into Greyhawk makes a certain amount of sense. They're expanding thier empire one campaign setting at a time. 
The Greyhawk  settting is simply another point on the compass to these bastard slavers. 

Dungeon stairs by Erol Otus, from AD&D module A2 Secret of the Slavers Stockade

A Different OSR Ecology Of The Gibberling For Your Old School Campaigns

 Hast heard the voices of the fen,

That softly sing a lethal rune
Where reeds have caught the fallen moon—
A song more sweet than conium is,
Or honey-blended cannabis,
To draw the dreaming feet of men
On ways where none goes forth again?

Beneath the closely woven grass,
The coiling syrt, more soft and deep
Than some divan where lovers sleep,
Is fain of all who wander there;
And arms that glimmer, vague and bare,
Beckon within the lone morass
Where only dead things dwell and pass.

Beware! the voices float and fall
Half-heard, and haply sweet to thee
As are the runes of memory
And murmurs of a voice foreknown
In days when love dwelt not alone:
Beware! for where the voices call,
Slow waters weave thy charnel pall.
Warning by Clark Ashton Smith

There are some places that mankind should not go, places where the weird energies of the Astral & more sinister radiations have had their ways with  things older then men.There were beings here on this world & others long before mankind walked upright. The hand of the Enki & others has their finger prints all over these beings. These are creatures of incredible violence & malignancy, beings who are  inimical to mankind in all ways. These are beings of extremes with violence,insanity & depravity their modus operadi. They have many names across the planes Gibberling, 'The Violent Ones', 'those that murder' & their names are legion as the crimes they commit without order or reason. There is no pattern to their actions only the insanity that a comes from their twistedly insane souls.

Their murderous cannibalistic  rages & hordes pure across their target with a shocking violence & fury that always ends in the quiet of the grave. These beings pour from their hiding places to murder anyone or anything they come across with their swords. Swords created from any scrap metals they come across reforged into a generic shape that has been programmed into these beings of violence. Their swords are plain affairs but very sharp capable of slicing through bone, flesh, and muscle with easy. These beings have no society, art, language, culture,etc. They simply exist under the Earth or out among the asteroids as the remains of a biological weapons system that has gone to seed long ago or so it would seem. These beings are actually the product of weird cosmic radiations that warp the mind and souls of their victims. Latent alien genes created by beings more ancient then the Earth itself created these beings right before the last Ice Age of their epoch. They were created in honor of Nyarlathotep in ancient days but have been seen as the possible final forms of mankind in the distant future millions of years in the future of some nameless Earth.
"I recall that the people went about with pale and worried faces, and whispered warnings and prophecies which no one dared consciously repeat or acknowledge to himself that he had heard. A sense of monstrous guilt was upon the land, and out of the abysses between the stars swept chill currents that made men shiver in dark and lonely places. There was a daemoniac alteration in the sequence of the seasons—the autumn heat lingered fearsomely, and everyone felt that the world and perhaps the universe had passed from the control of known gods or forces to that of gods or forces which were unknown."

Nyarlathotep by H. P. Lovecraft

There are others who whisper that in certain passages of the Necronomicon there are hints that these beings are the spawn of  Lahamu. There hints that they are possibly a prototype of mankind gone wrong or the future fate of mankind after it interbreeds with something hideous out among the stars. The tarot of Lahamu has horrid symbolic meanings in its
representations of the anti zodiac,demon-stars, and the dead constellations of many millions of years hence. There are hints in the scrolls of Varq that the reason for the Gibberlings psychotic behavior is the species cold & dim recognition of what they truly are in the face of an uncaring universe.
 Make no mistake the Gibberlings are not human in a capacity as we know it. They are species that can exist in a state of hibernation for 1d100 years as their inhuman physiology slows their organs processes to a crawl. Their alien senses draw them to places where black dimensional  occult magick energies have invaded our universe. These same energies drive them into frenzies of violence & depravity when they must murder, feed, & mate in strange sexual practices that are best not described. These involve the ritual murder of one of their own releasing the alien bacterial infection of Gibber into the air. Any survivors of one of their massacres must save vs disease or in three days take on many of the characteristics of a proto Gibberling. They will seek out the nearest sharp object, be drive into a blood lust of murder by the 'Song of the Gibber' & seek to be with their own kind on an instinctive level. These beings will seek places of desolation, ruin, & loneliness as a matter of course. 

There is a 30% chance that the proto Gibberling will commit three or more murders locally to satisfy its own mad blood lust consuming the corpses of its victims. The thing will seek out the nearest local urban village or location & commit its own ritual suicide with as many witnesses as possible to spread the contagion. Victims will begin turning into more of the monsters with a three day incubation period. These beings will seek out the scent path lead by the first of their kind & go into a quiet cocoon period beginning the final transformations. They will repeat this cycle 1d10 more times until there is a nest of 300 or more Gibberlings. Many times if caught within the first 1d8 hours powerful healing magicks can cure these beings but the change is swift. Many villages or interstellar colonies have inquisition units that handle the eradication  of nests of Gibberlings. 

Gibberlings are sensitive to other dimensional eldritch energies often seek out ruins, dungeons, or other planar locations. Their alien senses, weird physiologic make up, & instinctive level of violence make them perfect top tier predators for other worldly locations. They have been found out around the Asteroids and the Outer Worlds near the far colonies of Pluto. These beings have an instinctively dangerous cunning that has allowed the species to survive for thousands of yeas spreading their brand of madness to the far corners of the dimensions. The are not sentient in the traditional sense but share a horde hive mind with quasi telepathic & emphatic instincts on a base level. This gives some hordes a +1 on initiative during combat because of these monsters psychotic blood lust.  They bark, hiss & spit the praises to their respective forbidden gods but this is done by instinctive route.
 In the post apocalyptic wastelands recessive genes of the Gibberling species crop up in death lands as the potent mutational cocktail activates the recessive profile for this species.  The loath Morlocks, ghouls,  cavemen, mutant, and many goblinoid species which are instinctively seen as competition.
Interstellar & colony locations of deep space the Gibberling disease often manifests on failed colonies, dead worlds, & where demonic or other planar incidents have happened. The disease that creates these beings flourishes in conditions such as those. It is said among certain space wizards that the Gibberling species were used as anti personnel species by certain Lovecraftian races. 
There are certain Lovecraftian cults  which see these monsters as the true inheritors of the Earth when the stars come right. They create, interbreed, and encourage the spread of the Gibberling tribes. These same cults often find themselves on the end of the swords most often used by the monsters but see this as a necessary evil for the spread of the infection to continue.

1d20 Random Lovecraftian Encounters With Gibberlings
& Their Hordes Table 

1. There is a group of 1d8 men infected with the Gibberling disease that is headed your way. They have blood lust in their eyes and knives in their hands! Run you fools! 
2. A sink hole has opened nearby and 1d20 Gibberlings has crawled out with blood lust in their beady eyes! What will you do? They are closing with their sword which are caked with alien gore? 
3. Over head a comet of ill rumor flew last night. It was actually an escape pod of the Ancients. There is a proto Gibberling onboard with sword in hand ready for murder! 
4. Nearby a woman screams like a demon and reveals a short sword, she kills herself in spectacular fashion spraying a nearby crowd with gore. She then closes on you! Will the infection spread and will you be its next victims?
5. There are screams as a man is dragged off to nearby underground chambers that the Gibberlings have been murdering  their victims in! Will your PC's be next? 
6. Sounds like a strangled scream come from a nearby alley and a local doctor is infected with the Gibberling disease. He wields a scalpel and bone saw to take down his latest victims. At his feet lay two of his victims! 
7. A box lays in the street and inside is a strange book containing queer writing. This is a spell book belonging to a wizard whose brother has been turned into a Gibberling and the location of a nearby nest. 
8. A horde of Gibberlings pours forth from a nearby sewer system! There are at least 1d100 of the mad bastards who are on the rampage! 
9. A series of murders reveals a strange and dangerous throw back Gibberling which strangely has its mind intact but insane. It goes on a murderous spree but can't control the urge to kill! Now it wants one of the PC's! 
10. A nearby dimensional vortex has deposited a blanket of planar energies that changes anyone it touches into a Gibberling! 
11. Locals are on the hunt for a Gibberling disease infected child that ate its parent. The thing has shark like teeth and will inflict a very nasty wound on anyone it comes across. 
12. An ancient site is the home to a cult of Gibberlings and they've targeted your PC for murder! 
13. Twelve Gibberlings are on the hunt for a local wizard who has opened up a portal to an alternative dimension with a tribe of ancient Gibberlings who need more sacrifices to their forbidden and alternative sorcerous gods 
14. Two Gibberlings are acting as scouts for their tribe and want the fresh kill of a man whose crossed them with his family. 
15. An ancient relic has turned over some very dangerous designs that have attracted the arcane senses of  a group of Gibberlings. 
16. Two ancient wizards are at war but the local Gibberlings keep killing both sides. A team of specialists is enlisted for assassinating the problem.
17. An ancient cryo sleep pod contains a proto Gibberling who will go on a murderous spree if awakened! There are 1d10 local Gibberlings who are drawn to the arcane energies of the Gibberling that has come home! 
18. There is a massive horde of Gibberlings on its way to kill everyone! 
19. Twenty two swords arranged into the shape of a symbol of murder & mayhem mark the spot where an ancient warrior fell against the Gibberling horde. Now he has com back for revenge! 
20. An ancient Gibberling horde has come up from the underworld to kill your PC's! The PC's have a minor relics that that attracts them!

Barbarian Warlords of Greyhawk Part 11 Artifacts & Treasures of Greyhawk- Scattering of Power OSR Commentary Lands of Greyhawk

 Power belongs to those who take it or so the axiom goes with things moving apace since last blog entry here. Let's take a moment too get into how the Borderland was weakened & her borders made porious. And here's where Treasures of Greyhawk comes into focus. 

The forcus is centered because Treasures of Greyhawk. Because Treasures of Grethawk  is actually the history of the forces of Chaos scatterring the treasures of the campaign setting out of the Borderlands & Greyhawk's normal environs.
Let's take it back to B2 Keep on the Borderlands By Gary Gygax. The Caves of Chaos are filled with lots of loot from around the Keep & the lands of the Keep. Why?! Because the forces of Chaos have been instructed by the cults of elemental evil to keep one step ahead of the forces of Law. 
The forces of Chaos want to weaken & humilate Law not destroy them outright. They work in broad strokes & quickly to overtake thier enemies. 
We see this in Adventurer, Conqueror, King's  AX2: Secrets of the Nethercity by Alexander Macris,& Newton Grant.
We see sparkles of the power of Law through treasures like the rod of elemental spheres in AX2. And more of Chaos's machinations within  AX1: The Sinister Stone of Sakkara by Matthew Skail & Alexander Macris. 
Because  AX1: The Sinister Stone of Sakkara by Matthew Skail & Alexander Macris is a homage to B2 Keep on the Borderland. 

And this goes back into  the dark grip of the Zaharan Empire who are simply another minor pawn of the forces of Chaos on Greyhawk. They were dupes for the forces of Chaos who fell for the old hooks & lures of the cult of Elemental Evil. And this ties back into the history found within B2 Keep on the Borderlands & the border strokes of the corruption affecting the village of Hommlet. 

The scatterring of the artifacts & treasures of Treasures of Greyhawk has weakened the carefully laidout magical protections of Greyhawk. Enabling yet another piece of armor to be removed. Thus the forces of Chaos have removed another obstacle in their supposedly march towards power. In ACK's terms the temple of elemental evil is sheer sink of evil without question! 
Treasures of Greyhawk's adventures played out could be the adventure run to recover those points of Law's magical protection! 
According to the Greyhawk Adventures publication wiki entry; "

The module was published by TSR, Inc. in 1992 for the second edition Advanced Dungeons & Dragons. It bears the code "WGR2" and contains 19 short adventures set in various locations throughout the World of Greyhawk. The storylines of the adventures are loosely connected. During the various adventures in the book, players can, for example, explore the home of the archmage Bigby, invade a dragon's lair, travel to the demiplane called The Great Maze of Zagyg, and trade riddles with a sphinx."
The PC's will be treading on the foundations & movers of  power of Greyhawk's power. This will also enable the PC's too possibly become part of that power. And this is reflected in Keith H. Eisenbeis review of Greyhawk Adevenutures for the March/April issue of White Wolf magazine. Mr Eisenbeis stated,"He stated that anyone could find use in it and that "This product is certainly worth buying for those who run Greyhawk campaigns ". And this is something that I certainly agree with. But there's far more to slide of Chaos & horror into a point of power on Greyhawk. 

Barbarian Warlords of Greyhawk Part 10 The James M.Ward Difference - Greyhawk Adventures OSR Commentary Lands of Greyhawk

Everything changes & yet remains the same or at least it seems too. But everything changes on a gold piece as the forces of the temple of elemental busts forth with it's humanoid armies! 

 Let's pick this up right from where we left off yesterday from here.  Then we've brought Luz into the equation of Greyhawk's worsening situation yesterday. And here's where events  get interesting & the situation within the Borderlands. James M. Ward's Advanced Dungeons & Dragons Greyhawk Adventures changed everything within the Greyhawk campaign setting. Why?! Because it was the transition book between Advanced Dungeons & Dragon first edition & second edition. 

What the Hell are we talking about!? Well according to the Greyhawk wiki on the Greyhawk Adventures entry;" Greyhawk Adventures contains information about Greyhawk deities, clerics, major NPCs, monsters, geography, spells of the setting's famous magic-users (such as Bigby and Otiluke), magic items of the setting, rules for playing "zero-level" characters, and six short adventures.^[1] The supplement is compatible with both the 1st and 2nd Edition Advanced Dungeons & Dragons rules.^[1] As suggested by the note in the starburst-medallion on the cover, the contents of Greyhawk Adventures represent a transitional state between the 1st and 2nd edition AD&D rules;^[2] the NPCs in the Hall of Heroes include monks, a 1st Edition character class not included in the 2nd Edition rules, while the "Monsters of Greyhawk" chapter uses the 2nd Edition's system of rolling two ten-sided dice (2d10) for monster morale, rather than the 1st Edition's d100-based morale system." Because Greyhawk Adventures is cross compatible with AD&D 1st & 2nd edition it easily slots into the back half of ACK's easily. And this makes the Adventurers, Conqueror, King's Capital of the Borderlands By Newton Grant & Alexander Marcus that much more dynamic as it rears it's head within Greyhawk! 

Why?! Because for centuries adventurers have come too  Cyfaraun, ancient capital of the borderlands, seeking glory and gold. And this has left the ancient capital's borders open & perfect for abuse by Luz & his forces of Chaos especially after being softened up by plague & horror as we discussed last entry! Is there any hope?! 

Of course there is & this is where our PC's come in! Greyhawk maybe a great Sword & Sorcery settting gritty as it gets but it's also a place of divine power! Greyhawk sport's wizards such as  Bigby, Mordenkainen, Nystul, Tenser, and Rary  As well as dieties both major & minor with all concentrations going onto the PC's heads. The history of the Borderlands within a Greyhawk campaign is tied directly into the history of Hommlet & the temple of elemental evil. Here's that history from from the Greyhawk wiki entry;"In 566 CY, forces of evil from Dyvers or the Wild Coast constructed a small chapel outside the nearby village of Nulb. The chapel was quickly built into a stone temple from which bandits and evil humanoids began to operate with increasing frequency.

In 569 CY, a combined force was sent to destroy the Temple and put an end to the marauding. The army included regular forces from the human kingdoms of Furyondy and Veluna, dwarves from the Lortmil Mountains, gnomes from the Kron Hills, and elven archers and spearmen." 
" The site itself remained, however, and over the following decade rumors of evil presence there persisted. The Viscount of Verbobonc and the Archcleric of Veluna became increasingly concerned, and cooperated to build a small castle outside the Village of Hommlet to guard against the possibility of the Temple rising again."
Hommlet is outside of ACK's Borderlands region itself & it's one of  the key areas! 

The difference here is that Luz & his forces are breathing down the Borderlands collective necks. 

And if we look deeper into Greyhawk Adventures those forces have more then enough reason to take out the Borderlands with extreme prejuidice. Unless, the PC's start intervening in the matter. The evil elemental cult has been brewing up hordes of evil men and humanoids, including orcs, ogres and gnolls,etc. as per the Caves of Chaos from B2 Keep on the Borderlands. 
There is an update of the events at the keep within Greyhawk Adventures as well! 

This ties directly into the homage of AX1: The Sinister Stone of Sakkara by Matthew Skail & Alexander Macris

Barbarian Warlords of Greyhawk Part 9 Lords of Discord & Plague OSR Commentary Lands of Greyhawk

 This blog entry is going to pick it up from the other day's right here. 

If we're talking about the Elemental Evil cult within T1-4 The Temple of Elemental Evil by Gary Gygax and Frank Mentzer. Then we're speaking of a rising cult of evil that prevades Hommlet from the inside out. This same cult could well be the cult within the Caves of Chaos within B2 The Keep on the Borderlands. Why? Because the entire Borderlands region of Greyhawk is up for grabs. And  reading through Greyhawk's Slaver  series of adventures -  A1: Slave Pits of the Undercity, A2: Secret of the Slavers Stockade, A3: Assault on the Aerie of the Slave Lords, and A4: In the Dungeons of the Slave Lords. One has to wonder about the minds behind the demonic aspects of the action. What in the Sam Hill are we talking about?!  We talking about the rise of Chaos within Greyhawk. Ultimately this could involve the plague family of demonic entities including Juiblex,Zuggtmoy , & Bubonica

So the slavers are taking full advantage of Greyhawk's Borderland region & this sets events up within the capital of  Cyfaraun to be sacked by the barbarian hordes from the Barbarian states. These armies come in from  the nations of the Frost, Ice, and Snow Barbarians, as well as the nation of Stonehold. Why though?!? 

'

Because if the events within  T1-4 The Temple of Elemental Evil by Gary Gygax and Frank Mentzer have awakened Zuggtmoy. Then it means that Chaos is on the rise & the influence of Luz is also on the rebound! His cultists & armies could turn against the ancient Elven worshippers of Chaos in an effort to cut the head of the serpent off before it becomes too powerful! 

Player's PC's are going to need to scale the long laddar up the levels in order to command the forces they need to tackle this threat! Luz is no one to be trifled with. He's one Greyhawk's most active big bads & highly dangerous to any forces that cross his path. 
Luz's cult is going to be major player in the moves across the chess board of Greyhawk.Luz will act seemingly rashly but he's often played the long game before. 

Luz is going to wear down any of the Borderlands states remaining armies if he can with expendable orcs, and the multivaried humanoid Chaos forces. These he will spawn himself as well as use the semi divine call at his command. 
Why?! Because Luz & his relatives Juiblex,Zuggtmoy , & Bubonica are going to use plagues & disease to 'soften' up all of the forces & states of the Borderlands! 

Barbarian Warlords of Greyhawk Part 8 Behind the Scenes of The Borderland's Hellish Powers OSR Commentary Lands of Greyhawk

Here we're going to pick right up from where we left off on the blog last blog entry here So let's talk about Villains of the Undercity from Dark Wizard games & good old Wendel for a moment. And yes I know Villains of the Undercity is a homage to White Plume Mountain. Just go with me for a moment. The lizard men of B2 Keep on the Borderlands is actually another adventure element of the rising tide of Chaos. In Los Farport the same thing is happening & there's a reason for this. The tide of Chaos is increasing & someone is profitting from it. 

Wendel  the little halfling horror from  Villains of the Undercity from Dark Wizard games isn't as gonzo as he first appears instead he's a part of a network whose been supplying the chaos worshippers all along. 
You see our villain in this model has had help this whole time setting up his network of villainy. Wendel is a part of the Slavers network. The Slavers finianced, gave resources, etc for Wendel to return to Lost Farport. 

Why?! Because the Chaos worshippers  below the streets of Cyfaraun are paying very well for those slaves cum sacrifices. Wendel isn't eaxtly a push over either. Even though he's in the revenge game. The halfling is a threat within his own right! 
Los Farport offers an ACK crew a ton of opportunities! 

 AX3: The Capital of the Borderlands connects directly into those classic modules of the Eighties. The Slavers will double cross the Chaos worshippers at a critical point.Why?! Because the slavers have interests with the Barbarian states of Greyhawk. And these states have representives within the Borderlands region;" A cold, mountainous land, this region is best known for being the home of the nations of the Frost, Ice, and Snow Barbarians, as well as the nation of Stonehold. Collectively, the lands of the Frost, Ice, and Snow barbarians are known as the Barbarian States."
However the Chaos worshippers have seen this especially the Elves of AX-2 Secrets of the Nethercity. After all what's a few paltry human cultists to the chaos of all out war in Los Farport & the borderland regions!