Leap Day: Giant Zenopus (New Monster)

 

 
Xenopus laevis from Amphibia and Reptiles by Hans Gadow (1901).
Source: Wikimedia Commons 

Giant Zenopus

Move: 30 feet/turn land; 180 feet/turn swimming
Hit Dice: 4
Armor Class: 5
Treasure Type: incidental

Alignment: neutral

Attacks: 1 rake with hindclaws
Damage: 2d4

The giant zenopus, an entirely aquatic frog, can grow to enormous proportions given a sufficiently nutritious diet, with specimens up to ten feet long having been reported. A ravenous scavenger, it will eat anything, locating and shoveling food into its tongueless mouth with strangely sensitive and prehensile hands. A strong swimmer, the zenopus is known to float motionless with its unblinking eyes just above the water, waiting for the opportunity to leap and grab its prey, raking with the large claws on its hindfeet as it pulls them under.

For defense, the skin of the zenopus exudes a slime that makes them extremely slippery (AC 5). Even worse, the slime of 1 in 10 frogs carries a parasitic aquatic chytrid fungus, and anyone scratched by the claws of such a frog must Save vs Poison or have their skin become infected. After 1 week, infection will cause loss of 1d4 hp per day due to the sloughing of skin, unless a Cure Disease or an anti-fungal poultice (consult a herbalist) is administered.

The eggs of the giant zenopus are prized by wizards for use in magical research due to their size (6" diameter), fetching 1,000 GP in larger cities. The eggs must be kept wet at all times or will perish. There are rumors that there are secret alchemical methods of cloning the eggs, and even darker tales speak of ways of transforming the egg into a frog that walks upright like a man.

The only other treasure that might be found is incidental to their behavior; i.e., that which was possessed by their prey.

Notes:

---Based on the real world Xenopus, a frog long used in biological research, and which was presumably J. Eric Holmes' inspiration for the name of Zenopus. The name "Xenopus" means "strange foot" in Greek. The 94th anniversary of Holmes' birth was just a few weeks ago, on February 16th (Holmes Day).

---The concept of breeding frogmen from giant frogs goes back to Dave Arneson's Temple of the Frog adventure found in the Blackmoor OD&D supplement. 

"He has genetically modified the killer frogs to begin breeding frogmen..." --- the Temple of the Frog by Dave Arneson

And of course frogmen tie-in nicely to Holmes' Dagonites, who as described are more froggy than than fishy. 

"...surely your recent encounter with the frog-man should have convinced you of the reality of the Dagonites"  --- Murray the Mage, The Maze of Peril

---I originally drafted this in 2019 in comments to a post made to the late lamented Holmes Basic G+ group, just before G+ was shut down. While I transferred most of the posts from that group to an archive blog, this one didn't make it for unknown reasons. But I found it in an XML file I had downloaded and recovered the comments and revised them into this post.

Happy Leap Day!

See also:

Leap Day: Giant Toads in the Blue Book

Shadow Over Portown

The Maze of Peril: Auction of Gygax's Manuscript Copy

Typescript draft for the Maze of Peril, along with a reply letter from Gygax

In the most recent round of auctions from the estate of Gary Gygax, I was pleasantly surprised to see an auction for a typed manuscript of Holmes' D&D novel The Maze of Peril, originally published in November 1986 by the venerable independent publisher Space & Time, which was founded by author Gordon Linzner in the 1960s.

In addition to the typescript itself, the auction included the mailing envelope from the publisher; a cover letter from the publisher; a copy of a reply letter from Gygax; and a copy of an introduction to the book written by Gygax. This last is the most surprising of all, as the published novel includes Gygax in the dedication ("To Gygax who invented the game") but does not include any sort of introduction, by Gygax or other author.

Together we can gather that the publisher sent the completed typescript to Gygax in March 1986 and requested an introduction to the book, which Gygax wrote and mailed back to the publisher soon after, but for unknown reasons this introduction was not included in the book when it was published in November of that year.

Looking in more detail at each item:

---Of typescript itself, the photos show the cover page, with the title of the book and author's name appearing as on the title page of published book, and with a Shiprock, New Mexico address. Shiprock is part of the Navajo Nation in New Mexico, and according to the author bio accompanying Holmes' short story Martian Twilight (1991, Running Dinosaur Press), he and his wife (also a doctor) lived there for four years while they "worked for the Indian Health Service Hospitals". See this post for a letter to Space Gamer magazine that Holmes wrote during this time period.

The above photo shows a portion of one page of the text of the book, which is part of Chapter 1 (page 10 as published), and matches the text as published.

---The mailing envelope from Space and Time has a return address of 138 West 70th St, 4B in New York City, which is the same address from which I myself ordered a copy of Maze of Peril about 20 years ago. It addressed to Gygax at a PO Box 388 in Lake Geneva. Gygax had been ousted from TSR a little over 6 months previously. For more on this topic, see the article the Ambush at Sherdian Springs by Jon Peterson, or his book Game Wizards.

Written on the cover of the mailing envelope from Space & Time are the following handwritten notes in pencil: "Copy letter + 5 pp of intro. Origs. to Jani Anderson. File remainder under Holmes, J. Eric". Thus, it appears Gygax stored all of these papers in this envelope.

---The letter from Space & Time is mostly obscured in the photos, but it can be seen that it is dated March 15th, 1986.

---Gygax's return letter is dated March 21st, 1986, and uses a different address, "832 Geneva Street", the history of which is described on the Gygax Memorial Page. The letter is addressed to Jani Anderson, who was an editor at Space & Time.

This letter is visible in full, and the body reads:

Thanks for the note and copy of Eric's manuscript for the captioned. Naturally, I didn't read it for editorial work but for refreshing my memory. I believe the least time I saw it was about two years ago.

After I wrote the four numbered pages, I thought the whole was a bit too dry, so I added the "insert" paragraph. I envision that becoming the leading portion of the whole.

Having had a couple of books published, I am quite used to the indignities of editorial work. Feel free to do as you wish with the words. The presentation of the Registered Trade Marks of TSR, Inc. is, I believe, legally correct. Do be careful about that. I suggest you consult with a lawyer about usages beyond what I have written. Certainly, I can freely be shown as co-creator of the DUNGEONS & DRAGONS game, or creator of ADVANCED DUNGEONS & DRAGONS game. Cover usage might require some acknolwedgement of ownership of the mark(s).

Please feel free to contact me if I may be of any further assistance.

This suggests Gygax previously saw a copy of the draft around 1984, when he was still at TSR. Holmes was working on the book as early as 1979, as it is mentioned by title in an L.A. Times newspaper article from that year, "Fantasy Life in a Game Without End".

One possibility is that concern over trademark usage kept the publisher from using Gygax's introduction, although I note that the book as published uses the D&D trademark on the back cover, and in Holmes' author bio. Another possibility is Gygax's legal tussle with TSR, which was still ongoing in the first half of 1986, per Jon Peterson's article cited above.

Efforts are currently underway to contact Space & Time to see if they have any records or memories as to why Gygax's introduction was not used.

Copies of the original printing of Maze of Peril are still available from Space & Time via Amazon. Find the link in the sidebar to this blog or by clicking here:

Maze of Peril original 1986 printing

See also:

Tales of Peril Book Club

Dragon #46 retrospective on Enworld

Dragon Reflections, by M.T. Black, is a regular column on Enworld that offers retrospectives of Dragon magazine in chronological order. This week they've reached issue #46, which among other content includes Holmes' second published Boinger and Zereth story, "The Sorcerer's Jewel":

Dragon Reflections #46

Black covers the entire magazine, so doesn't say too much about Holmes' story, just that it is "pretty typical D&D-inspired fiction", but the first commenter offers this gem:

I would point the reader to Tales of Peril: The Complete Boinger and Zereth Stories of John Eric Holmes by Black Blade Publishing. Over the span of months, me and my D&D group read the entire collection out-loud together, on nights we weren't up for playing TTRPGs. More than "typical", I say the stories are "archetypal." It was so interesting to see how one of the authors of BD&D interpreted and portrayed how the class and race traits work in a story. The stories are zany and fun. We laughed out loud many a time. I recommend the book. (And I'm not sure, but I believe they're all autographed and numbered too.)

I followed up on this to comment that the Black Blade ordering page:

"hasn't been updated, but from communication with Allan and John (the folks behind Black Blade), I've heard that the first printing of Tales of Peril has sold out, and they are planning a reprint. If anyone who reads this is interested in a copy, if you email them at the address on that page they will add you to a list for notification when it has been reprinted."

I also commented that:

"One interesting bit in Holmes' story is a reference to "under Witch's Hill, where the old Suloise city is supposed to be buried". I believe this is only reference to specific setting material from the World of Greyhawk in the Boinger and Zereth stories. Given that the World of Greyhawk folio, which as noted above was also reviewed in this issue, mentions "A lost, ruined city of the Old Suloise is said to be hidden somewhere in the Suss forest" (page 26), and the Sea of Dust has buried Suel cities (also page 26), this suggests that Holmes had a copy of the new WoG folio, or at least had heard about the material from Gygax."

"The Sorcerer's Jewel" versus "The Sorceror's Jewel"

The title of contents spell the title of the story as "The Sorcerer's Jewel", but Kim Mohan's editorial on the same page, and the formal title above Jim Roslof's art on page 8 spell it "The Sorceror's Jewel": 

However, given that "sorceror" is a fairly common misspelling, and that the word is correctly spelled "sorcerer" throughout the actual story, I'd suggest "The Sorcerer's Jewel" as the correct spelling. Tales of Peril (2017) titles it as "The Sorcerer's Jewel", except where it reproduces the title as part of Jim Roslof's art. 

Furthermore, this wasn't even the original title of story; a few years back I briefly saw a typed manuscript for this story that was instead titled "The Apprentice Treasure Hunter", which appears to reference the character of Tarkan, pictured above between Boinger and Zereth. It's unclear whether Holmes was asked to change the title, or whether Dragon simply changed it themselves. Along these lines, it's also possible the use of Suloise (see above) was also an editorial change or suggestion.

Interestingly, "The Sorcerer's Jewel" is also the title of 1939 story by Robert Bloch. I've read this and it doesn't seem related in any way to Holmes' story.

Holmes for the Holidays 2020

Back for the pandemic, it's "Holmes for the Holidays"!

For this year, I've got an extra copy of Dragon #58 (February 1982), which features the Boinger and Zereth story, "In the Bag". The condition isn't the best: while the front cover looks like fine (see above), the back cover has a tear 2/3rds of the way across (it could be taped pretty easily), and the "Spellminders" counters from the center of the magazine are missing. Buy hey, it's free!

"In the Bag" was the last of Holmes' three Boinger and Zereth stories to appear in Dragon, and also the last of his writing of any kind for the magazine. Chronologically, it is set after "The Sorcerer's Jewel", as Boinger mentions that adventure, which had appeared one year earlier in Dragon #46 (February 1981). Murray and Olaf from The Maze of Peril also return in this story, and there are also references to Amazons and Dagon from that story (which at the time of this story, had been written but not yet been published).

The story is delightfully illustrated throughout by Donna Barr, an artist I'm not otherwise familiar with, but per wikipedia she illustrated other RPG products and comics books. While the Tales of Peril compilation includes "In the Bag", it does not include Barr's illustrations, which means this issue retains some draw for the Holmes collector.

The cover of Dragon #58 is by Clyde Caldwell - his second for the magazine - and features a castle with a skull-shaped gate reminiscent of Skull Mountain or Castle Greyskull (although Caldwell's painting is dated 1981 and it says here that the first He-Man toys were released in 1982). And to me, the lizard-riding, spear-wielding dwarf also recalls the lizard rider image featured at the top of this blog. 

The issue also include an article by the late Lenard Lakofka, "Beefing up the cleric", that details a bunch of new "official" cleric spells, which were later compiled in Unearthed Arcana. The article is introduced by Gary Gygax, who writes "All readers should be aware that Len Lakofka has been of considerable aid and assistance in formulating the whole of the AD&D game system".

* * * * *

For the give-away I will use the same system as before: 

If interested, leave a comment in reply to this post within the next two days, before automated moderation kicks in on this post. After two days, I will treat the list of comments as a table and roll randomly for the winner, using dice from a Holmes Basic set.

I'll cover postage (media mail) for any U.S. address. I can ship to other countries but I ask that you cover the difference (any amount over $4) in shipping by PayPal; so if you are overseas please only participate if you have a PayPal account and willing to chip in the extra. I'll estimate the exact shipping by weight and refund the difference if I overcharge.

Please note that due to the date I'm starting this that I probably won't get it in the mail until after Christmas.

* * * * * 

12/29 Update, including the Results:

I recruited two dice elves to make the rolls. There were less than 20 comments, so we used a Holmes white 20-sided die (numbered 0-9 twice) and an orange 6-sided die as the control die (1-3 = 1-10, 4-6 = 11-20).

After warming up the dice, we made the official roll...

...which indicates that number 7 is the winner! (the control die being a "1" means that it's "7" instead of 17). That's The Great Khan! 

Thanks to all who commented, and hopefully 2021 will be a better year for all.

Maze of Peril Ch 1, Scene 7: "The Grisly Business of Swallowing the Corpses"

This post is part of the Tales of Peril Book Club, indexed here.

The party wins their first combat, and Zereth directs them in standard D&D post-melee activities — searching the corpses (no treasure is mentioned), retrieving arrows, guarding the passage, checking for injuries (none are noted). Murray dissuades them from hiding the corpses as a waste of time, which proves prescient.

The area where they fought the battle was described in the previous section:

"More dark side corridors, some less than five feet wide, opened to the north. A glow of light ahead resolved, as they approached, into a diffuse beam of sunlight coming down a shaft in the ceiling which illuminated a round pit in the floor. Two thick wooden doors in the south wall were visible by the sunlight, both tight shut. At the lighted shaft, Boinger noted, there was a broad cross corridor and a narrow, darker passage intersecting the tunnel they were in."

These details closely match one of Holmes' original dungeon maps, a sheet adjacent to the one shown in my previous post. In fact, the details match this map so closely that I feel Holmes must have been consulting it while writing this part of the story. Below is the relevant portion with color annotations added by myself. The main corridor runs east-west, 25' wide at a scale of 5' per square. Narrow side corridors open to the north, two doors are in the south wall, and "The Pit" is at the intersection with a broad cross corridor. The orcs attacked while the party was examining the Pit, coming up behind them from the west ("Orc Battle").

Detail from a map by J. Eric Holmes, scan by Tristan Holmes

Boinger suggests investigating the two doors, which are the first doors they've found in the dungeon. They handle these in typical OD&D fashion — Bardan and the two men-at-arms bash one open, finding nothing (room above labeled "Empty"), and Boinger listens at the other. He hears nothing, but on bashing this one open they are are surprised by an "orange mass". Zereth recognizes this an Ochre Jelly, which is a "giant amoeba" member of the "cleanup crew" of Vol 2 of OD&D, and Holmes has it attack accordingly in a nice bit of description — a "long pseudopod of glistening, translucent orange tissue thrust through the gap as the door was pulled shut". The closing door severs this pseduopod, which continues to attack, and a further slash with a sword similarly divides it into two smaller globs, in accord with OD&D ("hits by weaponry ... will merely make them into several smaller Ochre Jellies"). Bardan wisely suggests burning it with a torch, which is successful, and also in accord with the original description ("can be killed by fire or cold"). Thus they survive their second melee.

Next, Boinger's "keen ears" detect an approaching sound. While in OD&D, Vol 3, Elves, Dwarves and Hobbits all have an increased chance to hear noise (1-2 in 6 versus 1 in 6), here Boinger clearly has better hearing than the elf or dwarf in the party. In Greyhawk, Hobbit thieves get an extra +1 to Hear Noise, which advances the idea that Hobbits have the best hearing of the non-humans. The sound resolves into a grating noise like someone "dragging a sack of heavy rocks down the tunnel", disturbing enough that Murray suggests they head down a side corridor. They then double back "into another corridor, this one only ten feet wide and black as pitch", where they put out their torches and wait ("Hiding Place" marked above).

Here Zereth they find a "a narrow passageway" that Zereth believes will lead "back toward the intersection", so he and Boinger use this to investigate the noise further. On the map above, this is the five-foot passage paralleling the wider north-south passage. Back at the intersection, our two heroes spy a huge Purple Worm, now in the "grisly business of swallowing the corpses" of the orcs, armor and all. Per OD&D Vol 2, Purple Worms are sufficiently large enough to swallow opponents in combat. The party had earlier noted the worm's trail throughout the main corridor, and now they have found it. They quickly head back to the party.

The original illustration of a Purple Worm from OD&D Vol 2, page 5, possibly by Dave Arneson.

Next up, we finally reach the last scene of Chapter 1!

Lizardmen PCs for Holmes Basic

Illustration by Greg Bell from Greyhawk (1975)

     Lizardmen --- are swamp-dwelling saurianoids about seven feet in height when fully grown. Members of the more advanced hut-dwelling tribes can speak a hissing version of Common in addition to their own tongue, and occasionally seek out employment as muscle in more civilized areas. They progress as members of the fighting class, but due to their size and strength gain a bonus hit point at first level and attack on the Monster Table for 1 to 8 points of damage when employing a weapon. Claws and teeth also allow them to attack for 1 to 6 points of damage without weaponry. Their scaly hide affords protection equivalent to chainmail (armor class 5) but due to their affinity for swimming they shun metal armor of any type other than a shield. They move at twice normal rate in water.


Notes
---Adapted from comments I first left to a post in the Holmes G+ group, with some changes on further reflection.

---Holmes has lizardman guards in two Boinger & Zereth stories, The Sorceror's Jewel and In the Bag. One speaks with a hiss and the other wields a halberd (much like the image above). Holmes uses the term "saurianoid" in In the Bag, and "saurian" in the other story.

---The height of seven feet, and the concept of more advanced hut-dwelling tribes, comes from the Monster Manual.

---The stat details comes from the Holmes Basic entry: AC 5, HD 2+1, AT 1, D 1-8 with spear or club. The bonus hit point at first level leads to a total HD of 2+1 at second level, meaning a 2nd level lizardman fighter here is equivalent to the monster version.

---Compared to a first level human fighter they get +1 HP and +1 damage, but with a loss of 2 points of AC (no plate mail). If using variable damage for weapons, you can give them a +1 to damage or step the dice up one notch (d8 to d10, etc). Using the Monster Table (which varies slightly between OD&D and different printings of Holmes) for attacks means a lizardman fighter will generally attack better than a human fighter of equivalent level, but their AC will remain much worse without magic armor (e.g., no plate mail +2). In addition to shunning metal armor, magic armor would generally not be available that fits their size and proportions.

Maze of Peril Ch 1, Scene 6: "A Map of the Dungeons Explored So Far"

This post is part of the Tales of Peril Book Club, indexed here.

After deciding on a direction, the party heads east for their first bout of dungeon crawling.
Zereth and Olaf remain in the front, with the others following in a slightly different order. Zereth strings his bow (a realistic touch) and draws a "black feathered arrow", and holds them together in his left hand, ready.

They reach the first north-south cross corridor previously reported by Zereth (scouting ahead) as being 70' from the entrance stairs. Nothing can be seen down these passages. They continue east and pass another "broad side corridor" where "dried slime covered the floor and even the walls". Holmes' original playing map for these adventures indicates the reason for this - this passage leads south to the Purple Worm's lair. I love that there is a Purple Worm lair so close to the entrance of a first level dungeon.

Continuing east, Olaf then tumbles into a covered pit trap, ten feet deep, and is attacked by a grey speckled and fanged serpent, seemingly of ordinary size but presumably poisonous. It fails to bite through Olaf's leather boots and he quickly dispatches it with his sword.

They haul Olaf out with one of their ropes, and the trap door swings back into place. Bardan comments on the trap maintenance (oiled hinges and a fed snake), and then is moved to front of the party because of his "innate familiarity with the Underground made him more likely to detect pits and traps". This is an ability of dwarves straight out of OD&D, Vol 1: "they note slanting passages, traps, shifting walls and new construction in underground seetings". Bardan doesn't just "sense" these traps, but taps the ground ahead with the butt of a short spear from supplies carried by the mule.

Boinger starts mapping the dungeon, using charcoal on parchment. If we could see this map, it might look something like this:

Detail from a map by J. Eric Holmes, scan by Tristan Holmes

This is a detail from one of Holmes' original maps for the games that this story was drawn from, shown with permission from his son Tristan, who made the scan. Each square represents 5', with the main east-west passage being exactly 25' wide as noted in the previous entry of this series. On the left can be seen "Stairs Down" and "Stair to Level 2" (which was not noted by Boinger and company). The north-south passage in the middle is the first cross corridor. The wide passage from the south wall is the slimy area, which leads to the Purple Worm's lair. Finally, on the right is the pit trap, with "Trap Door live cobra" noted beside it. So at this point in the story Holmes is following his original map fairly closely.

Moving east again, the party passes more "dark side corridors, some less than five feet wide" on the north. They approach an interesting intersection with a large "round pit" at the center, illuminated by light from a hole in the ceiling extending back up to the surface.

A group of orcs comes up behind them, but they hear a cry and are not surprised. Boinger has time to get out his "short horn bow". Boinger and Zereth fire arrows at the orcs before melee is joined, much like the order of combat that Holmes gives in the Basic rulebook: "...This is followed by any missile fire, if the distance to the monsters permits, and then melee is joined..." 

This is the first combat of the book, and is told from Boinger's perspective. He fires two arrows, the first killing one orc, and then engages in melee with another orc that he defeats after some tense exchanges. Holmes' combat descriptions are vivid - the orc's breath is foul, its blood hits Boinger's face, he feels nauseated after killing it.

The orcs are Tolkien-esque, even more so than D&D as they are also referred to as "goblin-creatures" (Tolkien primarily calls them goblins in the Hobbit and orcs in the Lord of the Rings). The orcs have hog-like faces with thick red tongues, and are armed with wide-bladed falchions, iron and leather helmets and chainmail. They cry out  "Nyah-gastur", which appears to be made up by Holmes, but to me has echoes of the Lovecraftian names Nylarathotep and Hastur.

Descriptions:
Zereth: Black Feathered Arrows

Olaf: Thick Leather Boots

Boinger: Short Horn Bow

Maze of Peril Ch 1, Scene 5: "The Ancients Worked on a Grand Scale"

This post is part of the Tales of Peril Book Club, indexed here.

Boinger and company now prepare to descend the staircase into the dungeon. They leave their horses behind, hobbled, but bring the mule with them. This is in line with the Basic rulebook: "Mules can often be taken into dungeons and they can carry 3,500 gold pieces. Horses can usually carry more, but lack the ability and calm necessary for dungeon expeditions", which is in turn adapted from OD&D Vol 2, "Only mules are agile enough to be taken in dungeons".

The marching order is specified, very much like a D&D party entering a dungeon. The "advance party" has a front rank of Zereth, with lit torch, and Olaf, and Haldor behind them with a second torch. Following are Murray, Bardan and finally Boinger leading the mule. The mule has shod feet that make loud "clomp-clomp" noises in the dungeon.

They descend straight down the ancient stone stair to a passageway of roughly cut stone blocks. Compare with Sample Dungeon in the Basic Rulebook: "The stairway from the surface leads twenty-five feet straight down and ends in the corridor marked START on the Dungeon Master's map."

The east-west corridor is immense, 25' high and 25' wide, leading Boinger to comment that the "ancients worked on a grand scale". Murray is less impressed, replying "this is nothing...The dungeons are endless. Some of the old books say they extend to the heart of the earth". Murray's comment indicates he is familiar with the description of the Underworld given earlier in the chapter. While the Sample Dungeon in the Basic Rulebook has standard-sized corridors (10' wide, 10' high), some of the rooms are similarly large scaled. 
Room A, for example, is 120 by 100 feet in size.

They unexpectedly find that the floor of the corridor is coated in "a trail of opalescent grey slime". Opalescent is an obscure word meaning that something shows "a glimmer of different colors when rotated or seen in different angles" (per minerals.net). I imagine the slime trail is illuminated in this manner as the party moves its torches about.

"Opal displaying Opalescence", from minerals.net

Zereth identifies the slime as coming from a "Worm", and that it is "nearly dry. Made hours ago", suggesting some familiarity with this. The others don't question this, so they must have at least heard of what he is referring to. They then refer to it as a "creature", and worry about it encountering it, giving the sense that it is a large creature. If you are familiar with D&D, you'll certainly suspect that they are talking about a Purple Worm, although Holmes has added the detail about the slime, perhaps based on the trails of snails and slugs or simply the sliminess of earthworms.

The party debates over whether to head east or west, worrying about whether they will come up behind the monster if they go west, or have the entrance cut off if they go east.
Zereth scouts each direction in the dark using his infravision. Bardan says he thinks that Zereth can see better than him in the dark, though in D&D they both have infravision to 60'.

When Zereth returns, his eyes reflect green in the torchlight, suggesting a tapetum lucidum like found in many animals, for example cats, giving improved night vision. Holmes researched neurobiology using cats as a model animal, for example see this abstract.

Zereth reports a cross corridor 70' in either direction. While Boinger has a snack (a recurring theme), Bardan and Zereth decide to head east, based on Bardan sensing more corridors in that direction. Per the Basic Rulebook (and OD&D), dwarves are attuned to underground construction, being able to "detect slanting passages, traps, shifting walls and new construction about one-third of the time" (i.e., 1-2 in 6).

In the next scene we'll see what they find when head east down the dark corridor.

Descriptions:

Murray: Long robe, conical hat - again this is in line with the standard D&D wizard as seen on the cover of the Basic rulebook.

Maze of Peril Ch 1, Scene 4: "Tromping Through the Wilderness"

This post is part of the Tales of Peril Book Club, indexed here.

This is the first scene in the novel that takes place outside of the Green Dragon. The story skips ahead past "three days of tromping through the wilderness", as Zereth puts it, and shows how the party finally locates the entrance to the Underworld that Murray has heard of. As Holmes wrote in the Basic rulebook, "Many gamesters start with a trip across country to get to the entrance to the dungeon" (Personally, I'd love if we all started using the term "gamesters" more often).

The scene begins in a forest clearing on a cold, misty morning, where the party has resumed their so-far fruitless search. In addition to Boinger, Zereth, Bardan, and Murray, the party includes two "hired men-at-arms" (see descriptions below), horses and a pack mule carrying tools, including a shovel (a tool not found in the OD&D/Holmes equipment lists, but which we could add). These additions are the results of the planning at the Green Dragon in the previous scene, where "horse power" and "mercenary men-at-arms" were discussed, among other topics. Holmes' first-ever published D&D article described his rules for generating such men-at-arms; see "Warrior-for-Hire", which appeared Alarums & Excursions in early 1976. Also, in the introduction to the Zenopus dungeon in the Basic rulebook, Holmes recommends that a small party employ "one or more men-at-arms". 

Here we see Murray in action for the first time; at the Green Dragon he was an unseen observer. The first impression is of a prickly personality. Murray grumbles about the weather, snaps at his companions, and grunts an angry reply at Zereth when teased.

The party works together well to find the entrance. Murray identifies the clearing to search, a man-at-arms finds a stone of interest, Boinger locates a stone slab under the soil, the men-at-arms clear a ten-foot-square area off this slab, Bardan identifies a hollow beneath the stone, and finally Zereth finds a door in the slab.

We learn that Boinger wears sandals in town "to protect his feet from the grime and much of the town roads", but not in the forest where he likes to feel the leaves under his bare toes. Barefoot, he works "his way through the brush", feeling "a change in the consistency of the ground underfoot", which he describes as "hard and smooth just under the dirt". This speaks to an otherwise undescribed ability for halflings in D&D: detection by foot. I'm giving this skill to all halflings from now on.

Bardan identifies a hollow space under the granite, in line with the standard dwarven abilities given in OD&D Vol 1, which include noting "slanting passages, traps, shifting walls and new construction in underground settings". There's a similar dwarf-elf 1-2 in the Example of Play in the Holmes Basic rulebook, where the dwarf says, "There's a hollow space under the floor here somewhere", and then the elf is sent to check for a trap door.

Zereth examines the slab intently, as if performing a standard D&D check for secret doors, but he also has a "faint blue glow" emanating from his palms. It's unclear whether he has cast a spell (Knock or some sort of Detection?) or if this is just Holmes' way of describing the innate elvish ability to find secret doors (which in OD&D is twice as often as humans). In the first scene of this chapter we saw a similar blue glow emanate from Zereth's hand when he heated Boinger's drink to demonstrate his magical powers.

While Zereth searches Boinger and Bardan whisper wagers on which disturbed earthworm will re-bury itself first; this is a nice moment showing the camaraderie between the two.

Eventually Zereth touches an "individual depression" and the stone splits and opens to reveal a ten-foot hole, exposing a stone stair leading down. An entrance to the Underworld, as promised by the chapter title, "Entrances".

The scene ends with Murray urging everyone to "prepare for the descent". In the next scene, the party will finally enter the legendary Underworld.

Descriptions:

Murray: Wears a blue robe, which is the same color as the wizard on the cover of the Holmes Basic set. He has a four foot long staff that he keeps in a "duffle" while riding his horse.

Men-At-Arms: Both are brawny, at least one is tall, and one is named Olaf. More on that name later.

Boinger: As noted above, he wears sandals in town or on roads, but goes barefoot in the forest.

Maze of Peril Ch 1, Scene 3: "Murray the Mage, It Is"

This post is part of the Tales of Peril Book Club, indexed here.

After the description of the Underworld, the story returns to the table in the Green Dragon where Boinger, Bardan and Zereth discuss their "proposition" concerning the Underworld.

Boinger and Bardan reveal that their partner Murray the Mage has found a secret entrance to the Underworld by studying the "old legends" (one of the "Entrances" referred to by the title of the chapter). 

This is the first mention of Murray, another major character in the story. Like the others, Murray is based on a PC in Holmes' original campaign - in this case played by Chris' friend Eric Frasier, who wrote an essay for Tales of Peril called "My Time as Murray" (page 299).

Boinger explains that Murray will go with them on the expedition, since he doesn't completely trust his partners. They all laugh at this, which we learn is uncommon for Zereth - "he rarely allowed himself more than two" smiles per evening.

They launch into a very D&D-esque "discussion of magical detection schemes, march distances, horse power, mercenary men-at-arms, supply dumps and rations". No further details are given here, but some are revealed during the start of the adventure proper.

A note from the bar is delivered, which turns out to be from Murray himself, who was surreptitiously watching them before departing. Boinger exclaims "Mother of Mithra" - the first of several references in the novel to real world religions.

The note indicates that Murray finds Zereth acceptable and that he will get a "regular share". In his early D&D games Holmes used a rule where hirelings got a half-share of treasure, unless exceptional, as explained in the 1976 Alarums & Excursions article Warrior-For-Hire, also reprinted in Tales of Peril.

This is the last scene in the Green Dragon in the first chapter. The next scene jumps ahead to the start of the party's delve into the Underworld.

The scene ends with Zereth joking that he has no choice but to join the party as he has "but five silver pieces left" in his purse. All of the prices in Men & Magic, O&D Vol 1, are in gold pieces, making it the standard purchasing unit. Silver and copper only appear as part of treasure hoards in Monsters & Treasure, OD&D Vol 2, with a standard exchange rate of 1 GP = 10 SP = 50 CP noted on page 39. So Zereth's 5 SP here is equal to 1/2 of a gold piece.

Descriptions:

Murray: Tall, white hair, hooked nose, high-pitched voice, an "old fud" per Boinger. Except for the voice, these are reminiscent of many Gandalf-esque wizards in the days of OD&D. Known as miserly - per Boinger, it is typical that Murray did not tip the barmaid for delivering the note (Boinger gives her a copper piece). Murray as lived in Caladan "for some time now, studying the old legends".

Maze of Peril Chapter 1, Scene 2: "Rumors of the Fabulous Treasures of the Underworld"

This post is part of the Tales of Peril Book Club, indexed here.

The second short "scene" of the Maze of Peril is a few paragraphs of compact world-building that expands the setting outward from the Green Dragon to the surrounding town and the Underworld beneath it. I quoted most of this section in a 2012 post, The Underworld of Holmes. As I wrote there, the term "The Underworld" is straight out of Vol 3 of the Original Dungeons & Dragons rules, "The Underworld & Wilderness Adventures", being the original term used to refer to the vast multi-layer dungeons of the game.

The narrator tells us that Zereth and "every man in the [Green Dragon] tavern" knows the rumors of the treasure of the Underworld. Holmes uses a favorite turn of phrase, "fabulous treasures", which also appears in the introduction to the Basic rulebook ("The dungeons are filled with fearsome monsters, fabulous treasure and frightful perils") and the Sample Dungeon ("Whispered tales are told of fabulous treasure and unspeakable monsters in the underground passages"). 

The rumors draw all sorts of adventurers and other types to the "tiny town", indicating that it is special in the land in its relation to the Underworld. The name of the town, Caladan, is first given here, and is noteworthy in that it was previously used by Frank Herbert as the name of the homeworld of the Atreides in Dune. Chris Holmes said that his father was a fan of Herbert but didn't know of any other specific reason for its use.

The description of the Underworld, like the name, is very much in line with OD&D: "corridors of wealth, they were also tunnels of deadly peril" and "there must have been many layers of dungeons and underworlds laid down, one atop the other". But Holmes takes this concept further by giving a putative origin for these dungeons: they were built by a mysterious prehistoric race. This echoes the introduction to the Sample Dungeon, where "the reputed dungeons lie in close proximity to the foundations of the older, pre-human city". As I wrote previously, this theme is "reminiscent of the pre-human alien civilization described in Lovecraft's At the Mountains of Madness (1931), who built vast underground cities in remote locations". Holmes never reveals any more details about the mysterious builders, so on this blog I later took the idea one step further, positioning Lovecraft's creatures in that story as Holmes' architects of the Underworld, to create a "new" monster for Holmes Basic called the Ancient Builder. The write-up for this monster now appears in the recently released Blueholme Journeymanne rules as the "Old Ones" entry in the Monster List.

While the rumors of the Underworld are well known in Caladan, the entrances are not. The narrator indicates that Zereth has been looking for information about an entrance but has not been successful. One reason that the entrances are not well known is that "many of the rash adventurers who set forth for the secret entrances to the fabled Underworld were never heard from again". Again, this fits with the story's origins in actual OD&D games, where many first level parties perish on their first expedition below.

In the next scene, Zereth will finally succeed in learning of an entrance.