The Rime of Descending Ascent - Why to Plumb the Depths of Castle Greyhawk's Dungeon Levels

In the original version of the Castle Greyhawk dungeons designed by Gary Gygax, he placed a set of runes that provided hidden guidance for the PCs in why they should delve deeper--- the raison d'etre in the call to adventure.  Tenser decrypted the runic clue using read magic---perhaps the first spell cast in play in OD&D.

I've been, alas, unable to refind the quotation I thought I had read many moons ago, and found merely summary phrases expressing the essence and meaning of those magic words, rather than their exact phrase: 

• Gary's Castle Greyhawk essays and stories---where I was sure that this quotation originated!---don't even mention the entrance runes in passing in "Founding Greyhawk" (in Dragon Annual #2: 1997), "To Forge a Fantasy World: Greyhawk's Creation" (in Horsemen of the Apocalypse: Jolly Roger Games, 2000), or "Penny for Your Thoughts" (in his "Up on a Soapbox" column in Dragon Magazine #302: December 2002), much less their actual text....
  
  
• Scott Casper's and Mike Bridges' brilliant Castle Greyhawk web comic does not allude to the runes, although it paints a wonderful picture of the opening entry into the castle dungeons!:
  
  
  

  

  Castle Greyhawk web comic Chapter 1 Page 21, 
  by Scott Casper and Mike Bridges

  
  
  
  
  
  
• The Castle Zagyg boxed set states that at the beginning of the stairway down to The Storerooms level, "The archway is graven with the words:  The Path to Adventure Begins Here, Seekers" (Castle Zagyg 2: The Upper Works, booklet 4 Castle Fortress, page 42).  Unfortunately, there is no mention of the runes requiring read magic to be read, nor of descending deeper to find richer rewards, as I recalled....
  
  
• Querying some other Greyhawk stalwarts yielded confirmation, but no specifics beyond Scott Gregg's memories from his long-ago discussions with Ernie Gygax:  "I will have to see if I can find the exact quote. It was a warning about the danger increasing the deeper you went, but the treasures get better.  It may have been deleted when I deleted my original boards."
  
  That was more-profitably followed-up later with a quote from Ernie: "Tenser was the first magic user ever in Greyhawk. No books or previous experience existed. The first spell I took was a Read Magic and I used it to read the glyphs above a stairway leading down (level 1 to 2). It told us (Rob, Terry and I) that as you descend into the depths of the Dungeon the encounters will be more difficult but the rewards far grander."
  
  Scott's original interviews with Ernie Gygax are almost definitely what I had been remembering and seeking, which was wonderful corroboration, but still left me without Gary's words.  

So, unable to find the original text, I've created my own version of that phrase, as a crazy poem penned by Zagig himself.  

Enjoy! :D

The Rime of Descending Ascent 

Explore!  Delve deeper, discover grander treasures:
     jewels and riches abound in droves,
     dweomers and artifacts---each allures!

Beware!:  As you descend, fiercer monsters guard lairs. 
     Traps confound and wound, maim and slay.
     Subtle tricks delude.  Enigmas befuddle!

Tempt fate!  Test your mettle!  Ill-gotten gains yield gold,
     Infinite apotheosis---
     or it all ends in an early demise....

                    --- presumably wrought by Zagig Yragerne and/or Zagyg the Mad Archmage

My text helps to highlight some of the focus of my dungeon level designs---traps and tricks, monsters and mysteries---and also ties back to the current campaign's lore about Zagyg and his testings.  

It also lays foundational hints and groundwork for exploration of some of the setting lore lurking behind Zagig's rise to demigodhood, which has always intrigued me.  These ideas crept into several abandoned level designs I themed around tests of the nine alignments, which I'm dusting some off to see what may be salvaged.  Perhaps some may find play at the table and/or in wend their way into the planar correspondences of alignments too.  We'll see....

Allan.