The Tomb of Y'Golonac
| The Tomb of Y'Golonac | |
|---|---|
| ◄Eamon adventure #70► | |
 | |
| Author | Robert Romanchuk |
| Released | August 1984 |
| Revised | 7 June 1987 |
| EAG number | 70 |
| EDX number | 14-15 |
| EDX set | Classic Eamon Adventures, Vol. 2 |
| Native format | Apple DOS 3.3 |
| File | Eamon 70 - The Tomb of Y'Golonac.dsk |
The Tomb of Y'Golonac is an Eamon adventure written by Robert Romanchuk.
Background
The MAIN PGM of The Tomb of Y'Golonac, the sole adventure written by Romanchuk, indicates that it was written in March 1983 and was last revised in June 1987, three years after its release by the National Eamon User's Club. The adventurer is dedicated to the pulp horror author H. P. Lovecraft and shares many themes with Mike Ellis' adventure Well of the Great Ones, also focusing on Lovecraft's work.
The adventure borrows heavily from other authors working in the neighborhood of Lovecraft; the eponymous creature Y'Golonac is the creation of horror author Ramsey Campbell, and a portion of the introductory text is taken from Campbell's short story "Cold Print":
- "Beyond a gulf in the subterranean night a passage leads to a wall of massive brick, and beyond the wall rises Y'Golonac to be served by the tattered eyeless figures of the dark. So may Y'Golonac return to walk among men and await the time when Earth is cleared and Cthulhu rises from his tomb among the weeds, Glaaki thrusts open the crystal trapdoor, Snub-Niggurath strides forth to smash the moon-lens..."
The Voormithadreth Mountains mentioned in the introduction are taken from author Clark Ashton Smith's work and the enemy "Hound of Tindalos" is drawn from the short story of the same name by Frank Belknap Long.
Premise
The adventurer overhears rumors of an evil cult called "The Minions of Y'Golonac" who have prophesized the imminent destruction of the planet Eamon in the tome Revelations of Gla'aki. Motivated by the promise of saving the world, along with the accompanying reward and treasure found in the Tomb of Y'Golonac, the adventurer sets off to annihilate the cult.
| Full introduction |
|---|
|
The dreaded Cthulhu Cycle has existed since the dawn of time. The ancient myths of Elder Beings from beyond space and time have, in other worlds, too often proven true. In the Main Hall, you heard a rumor of a segment of the Cthulhu Cult, "the Minions of Y'Golonac". Apparently, another adventurer had attempted to destroy this evil cult, but never returned. Your interest in solving this mystery grew as you heard of a reasonable reward for the safe return of this adventurer, and rumors of great wealth hidden at the heart of the cult, a structure that exists right here on Eamon, the Tomb of Y'Golonac! This horrid structure, filled with hideous monsters remaining from some bygone era, must be looted and the god destroyed before the time you had read of in a rotting, worm-eaten tome... "Beyond a gulf in the subterranean night a passage leads to a wall of massive brick, and beyond the wall rises Y'Golonac to be served by the tattered eyeless figures of the dark. "So may Y'Golonac return to walk among men and await the time when the Earth is cleared off and Cthulhu rises from his tomb among the weeds, Glaaki thrusts open the crystal trapdoor, Shub-Niggurath strides forther to smash the moon-lens..." So that night you set off to find the tomb. After heading northwards from the Main Hall for many miles, over a small, forgotten path winding through the huge Voormithadreth Mountains, you came across the entrance to the tomb! Warning! The Tomb of Y'Golonac is an extremely dangerous and high-level dungeon. If you are not an experienced Eamon character with at least one magical weapon, return to the Main Hall at once! |
Walkthrough
Review
Reviewer Pat Hurst—who assisted in the similarly-themed Well of the Great Ones—gave a dual rating to the adventure: a score of 4/10 for "average" Eamonauts and a score of 6/10 for those interested in the works of Lovecraft (i.e., "Cthulhu types"). Hurst noted that players of any stripe would find a means to quickly kill their characters, as the monsters are exceedingly tough and the map is littered with unforgiving (and gruesome) death traps, although he conceded that this was "true to the [Lovecraftian] genre." The writing and descriptions were praised, although the plenitude of unmarked exits in rooms proved a source of frustration to Hurst.
Trivia
- The use of the Power spell will turn the player into a monstrosity with a "slimy, octopoid mass" for a face with probability of 10%—reducing the adventurer's charisma to 3 in the process—and will alter the sex of the player with probability of 5%.
External links
- Eamon Adventurer's Guild Library Master List
- The Interactive Fiction Database: The Tomb of Y'Golonac
- Interactive Fiction Reviews: The Tomb of Y'Golonac
- The H. P. Lovecraft Wiki: Y'golonac