Gary Gygax's Castle Zagyg II - The Upper Works

The curse has finally lifted!

The most legendary and fabled castle of them all, Castle Zagyg materializes from a dread fog that has long held it enthralled and thus averting its many seekers.

As your party emerges from the tangled brush, briers, and vines that fence the Old Castle Track, you observe the sprawling ruins of an enormous castle complex built upon a sloping bluff of rock. Crumbling, battlemented walls join towers square, round, and pentagonal. Gatehouses, courtyards, and craft shops lie in varying states of disrepair. High above the ruins, at the culmination of the bluff, rise two impressive towers: one round, the other hexagonal. The great east towers flank an enormous fortress of stone from which carved spires rise, piercing the very sky. This edifice can be none other than Castle Zagyg, the dwelling of the Mad Archmage.

An outer gatehouse presents the most immediate structure before you. A ravine stretches north-south behind it, forming a natural barrier in juxtaposition with the castle bluff. Closer inspection reveals a series of caves, toothy maws, dark and treacherous that riddle the sheer walls of the ravine and castle bluff.

Your quarry looms ahead! Explore the ruins at the foot of Castle Zagyg, plunge within the murky caves that dot the rocky bluff, or make for the castle fortress, seeking ingress to Mad Archmage's many and sundry dungeons below -- your choices are myriad. Adventure and derring-do beckons, seekers, though discerning individuals will no doubt note that a horrible death is as probable as attaining both fame and vast treasure. Are you and your fellow explorers brave enough to undertake the challenge, the mystery, the weird whimsy and lurking horrors that are Castle Zagyg?

Castle Zagyg, Volume II: The Upper Works is a Castles & Crusades mega-adventure for character levels 1-4. It is strongly suggested that adventuring parties contain at least one thief and be prepared to encounter all manner of dangers in the haunted ruin and in its subterranean mazes. With an estimated 272-page count in five books, this boxed set will contain the following adventures:

Mouths of Madness: Explore the ancient wilderness surrounding Castle Zagyg, then investigate the many caves that pock the rocky bluff on which the ruins lie. The Mouths of Madness are infested with humanoids such as bugbears, goblins, gnolls, kobolds, orcs, and a sly hill giant. Rumors persist of a prowling werewolf, a deranged owlbear, bizarre fungi, and deadly blobs that drink flesh from bone!

Ruins of the Castle Precincts: Broach the ruined walls, courtyards, towers, and outbuildings that comprise the precincts of Castle Zagyg, including an Oriental-style pagoda gatehouse and an Egyptian-style pylon gate. Human bandits and a formidable goblin tribe claim several structures, but some horrors are well beyond their mortal ken.

The East Wall Towers: Flanking the castle fortress loom a pair of colossal towers: The Great East Wall Tower and the Hexagonal East Wall Tower. One is inhabited by an enigmatic hermit and his horde of "pets"; the other is controlled by malign cultists of an ambitious sort.

Castle Fortress: Legend speaks of Zagyg's Castle lying in a state of ruin, much like the walls and towers below it. But when that eldritch fog parted, the fortress of the Mad Archmage was revealed an intact and most imposing edifice. Now bandits hide out there, but even they live in fear of prowling and ravenous monsters, ghostly hauntings, weird machines, animated statues, and tricks and traps galore.

The Storerooms (Level 1): Below the castle fortress lies the first dungeon level of Castle Zagyg, where militant kobolds march and potent goblins congregate. Beware the tricks, the traps, and the whimsy enchantments of the Mad Archmage, for here begins the true zaniness of Zagyg, the Mad Archmage who invites all adventure seekers to engage in a bit of derring-do.

Upper Works Map & Illustration Booklet: This resource contains maps, floor plans, and dozens of illustrations that pertain to the adventure.

Castle Zagyg, Volume II: The Upper Works is the first of at least three boxed sets to comprise this unparalleled mega-adventure. Never before told, these adventures are Gary Gygax’s personal creations. For 30 years, whether at Gary's table or on the convention floor, players have dashed themselves against the shoals of Castle Zagyg. So many have tried plundering these deeps of Gary's favorite wizard that the dungeons have become legends throughout the gaming world.