Selected Mentions in the Professor's Underworld key:

There is also a diary (in Salarvyáni), which speaks of madness and long wandering through the
Underworld. It ends in a scribble, but mentions the Garden of Weeping Snows. This garden, he says,
is full of blooms which bring madness and a lingering death.

Bronze doors open outwards onto Garden of the Weeping Snows. Before these gates are two
monstrously carven sphinxes. Garden contains plants which have fluffy white down which drips from
boughs as though it were "weeping." It is narcotic and puts any level of character to sleep for 3 turns.
If party stays on the paths, it does not bother them; otherwise they must roll saving throws of 14 each.
Garden is full of statues of terrible scenes of torture. The 69 ways of unhappy demise. Each scene
consists of a human, some men and some women, depicted in agony upon some sort of torture device,
with torturers in attendance. These beings cannot be brought back to life. Roll for gold and gems on
each one examined; roll of 0-50 = nothing; 51-70 = one gem; 71-90 = 1 piece of jewellery; 91-100 =
misc. weapon (roll for which).

Small stepped platform has first of Scenes of Unhappy Demise, with a depiction of a human on some
sort of spiked rack. Two carven torturers turn it. No gold or gems on this one. Path leads between
ominously drifting snowy sleep-down. Plants are about 7 feet high in places, so that one cannot see too
far ahead. Garden is patrolled by 30 human warriors of Level 1, plus 10 men of Level 2, and one
Captain of Level 3. These men are dressed in white surcoats, silver helmets, and carry lances and steel
swords. Roll of 1 on 6-sided die causes them to come upon party. They do not attack but will offer to
escort party to the Palace of the Wizard Nyélmu, visible above garden to West.

Hall of guesting. Here automaton maidens serve food and wine and dance for the visitors. There is
narcotic smoke in the air, incense, and soft music from magical sources.

Chamber of Nyélmu the Wizard. He is 10 Level has all spells through Grey Hand, Charm Creature,
Raise the Dead, Light, Charm Creature, Neutralize Poison, Teleportation, Dispel Magic, Wish, Eye of
Frigid Breath (20 charges, no ins. or ind.), (29) Eye of Command (43 charges, no ins., ind. in
Salarvyáni). He has one scroll (Necromancy and Grey Hand, in Classical Tsolyáni). He has one
amulet: #7. Also Misc. Magic #3 (Chariot of the Gods, 68 charges).

Hall of robing. Here guests are given golden robes and asked to leave their weapons.

Inner throne room and shrine to Dlamélish. Dais at end has thrones for priestesses and a higher one for
Nyélmu. Here Dlamélish herself comes to speak to him, and there are 30 percent chances that she will
come while party is in this chamber. She does 2 dice damage against anybody in the room, with a
saving throw of 13 required. She cannot be touched. Thrones and ornaments are worth 45,000.

Comments fr Chirine:

Garden of the Weeping Snows: I have a number of stories about the place, all of which are kinda long.
Phil loved to get us down there, as Nyelmu was a great (?) way to send us off on quest; most of which
were likely to get us killed in various nasty ways. Phil really liked Nyelmu; we all thought that Nyelmu
was pretty bizarre, even for an Undying Wizard. More then once, we thought that it might be polite to
send a sympathy card to the Jakalla Underworld's Overlord, who is responsible for keeping the batty
wizard in his palace prison.
As for the Overlord: He is human, and is basically the warden of this
particular prison. He can maintain the wards that keep Nyelmu in, but
doesn't seem to take much interest in what Nyelmu gets up to in his
prison. He does keep order, though, in the garden and can command the
Pale Legion - I suspect he's their commander. As near as we could tell,
he just runs the place and keeps it functioning, and Nyelmu is pretty
much left to do what he wants - he just can't leave.

It's actually pretty nice temperature-wise,

warmer then the Underworld but cooler then the surface. The 'roof' is
featureless white, with no real definition or sense of depth. You look
up, and it's simply a glowing blur. Other-worldly.

You got up to the big front door from a pretty ordinary corridor;
you basically walk right up to it. It's unlocked, and you can go right
in. The guards, the Pale Legion's troopers, are quite polite and send
you down the garden paths to the palace. You can get out through there, if Nyelmu tells the guards to
let you
out. Otherwise, it's a nasty fight with troopers in enchanted steel
armor and the same in weapons.

The 'statues' that are all

around the garden paths on pedestals are actually Nyelmu's victims; they
were zapped with a variant of the Excellent Ruby Eye while being
tortured, and they spend eternity in torment unless somebody gets the
Eye from Nyelmu's study in the palace and frees them. The place is
basically Engsvanyali, although I think it's older, and is a pretty nice
palace. The people in it, on the other hand, are either people who have
been trapped with Nyelmu for centuries or PCs who have been captured over
the years. It's not a happy place, although Nyelmu can be helpful if the
party is willing to do his bidding.

Some are 'guests', which means that they are stuck there, and yes,
some are from the various temples - and the job is not at all sought
after, as they can suffer equally from Nyelmu's caprices.

He has all sorts of nasty jobs that PCs wind up doing, like
quests for magical books and artifacts. Nyelmu doesn't mind then getting
killed, either; he watches them in his Globe of Distant Discernment and
laughs a lot over them getting wiped out in some horrible manner. You
get to leave through the front door if he gives permission, and via
Nexus if he lets you - the Mihalli are immune to this, by the way, and
can come and go as they please; they do try to avoid the place, though.

You can get out via Nexus, but Nyelmu and his minions can't, by
order of The Gods.

Comments fr Blue Room Archives:

Nyelmu of the Garden of Weeping Snows; was it not he whom the Tlomitlanyal consigned to
everlasting torment for having learned by scattered clues certain secrets of Tekumel's uttermost past...

[Moderator's Note: Kenji Schwarz asks the following about Nyelmu and his ] [ Garden
under Jakalla. ]

>Who is this Nyelmu guy we keep running across every now and then? Anybody >have any dates,
biographical data, gossip, or personal acquaintance of him? >"Wizard, Engsvanyali, displeased Lords
of Stability, confined to >quarters," is about all I can get from the sourcebooks.

Not much is known, except for legends. The "Garden of the Weeping Snows" is described a little bit in
the old EPT rulebook, but this is about it. We know that Nyelmu (the name has to do with "sleep" or
"dream" in Engsvanyali) seems to have offended the Lords of Stability. Some say this occurred at
Dormoron Plain; others claim it was more recent and had something to do with the Heroes of the Age
during the Engsvanyali period. At any rate, he seems to have been condemned to dwell in the Garden
until the End of the Cycles of Time. He is one of the most bored and saddest individuals you'll ever
meet, always seeking some new toy or pastime. His comrades in the garden include many who have
somehow wandered in there and become trapped.

Getting into the Garden is easy: one of the gates (which seems to open into a different Plane and not
just into another area of the Underworld) lies in one of the lower levels underneath Jakalla. Once in,
however, one cannot get back out. Not only does the gate not work, but the Pale Legion (Nyelmu's
silver-and-white-garbed soldiers) will stop the fugitive and take him to Nyelmu, who may then have
the hapless victim put up on a special torture display dais to beautify the Garden. Using an Excellent
Ruby Eye when the victim is suffering the most then makes the agony a permanent moment
throughout time! This may last for eternity, or until Nyelmu grows bored and tries something else on
the poor fellow!

I recall once when a player character decided to "show a new player around." He had found the way
into the Garden, and -- having read the EPT rules -- he had thought of a foolproof escape plan. He took
the newbie down into the Garden, met Nyelmu, had a couple of unpleasant brushes with the Pale
Legions, and at last decided it was time to leave. They had a slave with them, and the clever player
then announced that -- according to the Rules -- he would sacrifice thte slave and donate enough
magical paraphernalia to make Divine Intervention absolutely certain -- and gain a poisitive result. I
said, "What is the slave does not want to be sacrificed?" The player laughed and said, :"Well, i am x-
levels above him -- I kill him automatically." "Yes," I said. "Roll initiative." The player rolled some
number, and I -- witnessed by several other players -- rolled a 20 for the slave! Instant hit! "Can't hurt
me much," the player jeered. I then rolled a *second* 20": instant kill! Down went the player
character. "That's all right," he growled, "the new guy will now kill the slave and get Divine
Intervention and get us out of here!" In those days, however, low-level characters could not ask for or
use Divine Intervention, and... to make a short story an eternity long -- there they were...

(I did eventually take pity and allow Nyelmu to let them out on some pretext or other, now forgotten.)

[Moderator's Note: I hope you mean the new guy and the "lucky" slave? ]

>What's the Garden of Everlasting Snows like? (size? decor? view?) Who >might be found in there?
and what did the guy DO to get stuck there in the >first place?
Read the old EPT rules, p. 102. It's rather a large place (area unknown), with pure white plants with
cotton-like leaves and flowers growing thickly all over it. There are paths of blackish, shining stone
running in crisscrosses everywhere, and the Pale Legion (usually in squads of 20 or so) move easily
around in it. These soldiers are human[oid] but are clearly constructs. Possibly androids? Who knows?
Nyelmu's great black palace rises at once side of the apparent cavern in which the Garden exists, and it
has many rooms, colonnades, balconies, and areas too numerous to be gone into here. I had a map of
the Garden -- as much of it as could be revealed -- in with the old "dungeon maps" of Jakalla. I
suspect there may still be copies out there somewhere.

>How aware is Nyelmu of what's going on up above in the world? Does it >still bore him? There's an
illustration of him leering at Princess Ma'in >through a crystal ball with his phone book, one assumes,
spread out before >him; does he have plans in mind for her, or is he just a dirty old peeper? >Inquiring
minds want to know.

Now, now! Indeed! Nyelmu is a serious wizard! He is looking at Ma'in with only a little bit of
lascivious interest. Essentially, he is curious about her possibilities of becoming Empress and perhaps
freeing him (it is said that Nyelmu's personal goddess is similar to Lady Dlamelish...???). At the time
that picture was drawn, Nyelmu was plotting to lure Ma'in down into his Garden, then hold her
hostage until the Emperor (or the College at the End of Time) made a deal with him. Without her, of
course, history would be messed up, and many new and perhaps unwanted branches would arise and
grow from the great Tree of Time.

Regards,

Phil ----- Chris Davis Moderator, The Blue Room [email protected] The Blue Room's FTP
site: http://nexus.prin.edu or ftp://nexus.prin.edu Available 24 hours a day, except when my PC is
down, or unavailable.