06 — Temple in the Deep

Identity

WML ID	`06_Temple_in_the_Deep`
Next scenario	`07_Return_to_Oldwood`
Map	`06_Temple_in_the_Deep.map`, 27 × 27 hexes
Turns	37 / 34 / 31
Schedule	Underground
Automatic enemy victory	Disabled

Archetype	Dungeon quest / two-part victory gate
Story importance	Critical
WML complexity	High
AI customization	Simple but maximally aggressive
Key artifact	Ruby of Fire

Story & dialogue

A single story panel follows Haldric into the catacombs beneath the forest temple. Lich-Lord Lenvan interprets the opening of the seal as his release and immediately raises his forces. Burin welcomes being underground again, while Haldric frames the task as giving the monsters their final rest.

The scenario’s story is carried primarily by mechanics rather than long conversation: the sealed enemy, the buried chest, the central pools and tentacles, the raising of dead allies, and the requirement that Haldric personally retrieve the Ruby all communicate the dungeon’s danger and artifact importance.

Story beat	Implementation
Descent into the roots of the world	One campaign-specific story image
Lenvan’s release	`start` dialogue and aggressive undead side
Unnatural pools	Tentacle sighting event
Ruby discovery	Haldric-only chest interaction with sound and narration
Necromantic threat	Fallen side-1 units are raised as hostile corpses while Lenvan lives

Map description

The compact 27 × 27 underground map places Lenvan’s keep near the upper center and Haldric’s keep near the lower center. Narrow cave passages, impassable cave walls, underground villages, rough cave ground, water, chasms, bridges, fungus, and a broad central pool produce a vertically oriented push toward the chest at hex 13,1.

Map element	Design role
Opposed top and bottom keeps	Creates a direct dungeon ascent toward the lich and artifact.
Central water complex	Houses the Tentacles of the Deep and interrupts the main route.
Shroud	Makes the dungeon reveal itself incrementally.
Chest flanked by dragon statues	Visually marks the Ruby objective at the map’s far end.
Holy-water pickup at 13,19	Supplies a core anti-undead tool near the player’s half of the map.

Objectives and victory logic

Type	Condition
Victory requirement 1	Defeat Lich-Lord Lenvan.
Victory requirement 2	Retrieve the Fire Ruby with Prince Haldric.
Defeat	Death of Prince Haldric; turns expire.

victory_when_enemies_defeated=no prevents the engine from ending the scenario when Lenvan dies. Victory can occur in either order:

Lenvan dies first └── scenario continues until Haldric opens chest └── victory Haldric opens chest first └── Have_Ruby = yes └── Lenvan's later last-breath event ends scenario

Quest-design lesson. A compound objective is implemented as two independent completion events joined by one temporary state flag.

Sides and AI

Side	Leader / roster	Gold and income	AI
1 — Refugees	Haldric; Burin and Minister Edren recalled	160 / 140 / 120	Human controlled; shroud enabled
2 — Undead	Lich-Lord Lenvan; Revenant, Deathblade, Bone Shooter, Skeleton, Skeleton Archer	240 / 300 / 360; income 6 / 10 / 14	Aggression 1.0, `NO_SCOUTS`, fighter/archer pattern

The enemy AI is deliberately uncomplicated. Scenario identity comes from map structure, fixed tentacles, shroud, objective gating, and death events rather than a custom controller.

Difficulty scaling

Element	Easy	Normal	Hard
Turns	37	34	31
Player gold	160	140	120
Lenvan gold	240	300	360
Lenvan income	6	10	14
Fixed Tentacles of the Deep	4	6	8
Raised former allies	Walking Corpse	Walking Corpse	Soulless

Special events

Trigger	Behavior
`prestart`	Places difficulty-scaled tentacles, chest, dragon statues, and holy water; recalls Burin and Edren; installs compound objectives.
`start`	Lenvan celebrates his freedom and the party commits to destroying him.
First sighting of a Tentacle	The discovering unit comments on the pool.
Move to chest with non-Haldric unit	Plays a defensive animation, asks for somebody else, and permits undo.
Move to chest with Haldric	Sets `Have_Ruby=yes`, plays `open-chest.wav`, narrates the Ruby, and checks whether Lenvan is already dead.
Move to chest after Ruby obtained	Reports that Haldric already has it and permits undo.
Lenvan last breath	Ends the scenario only if `Have_Ruby=yes`.
Side-1 unit dies while Lenvan lives	Haldric comments once; repeatable event raises a hostile “Former Friend” when the killer lacks its own plague result.
`victory`	Confirms both tasks and clears the temporary `Have_Ruby` flag.

Campaign utility: `RISE_UP_RISE_UP`

The macro is defined in utils/trow-macros.cfg. At the fallen unit’s coordinates, it creates a loyal side-2 unit named “A Former Friend,” preserves the dead unit’s undead variation, disables its remaining moves and attacks for the current turn, and animates its arrival. The created type is Walking Corpse on Easy and Normal, and Soulless on Hard.

#define RISE_UP_RISE_UP
    [unit]
        name= _ "A Former Friend"
        type={ON_DIFFICULTY "Walking Corpse" "Walking Corpse" "Soulless"}
        side=2
        x=$x1
        y=$y1
        moves=0
        attacks_left=0
        variation=$unit.undead_variation
        animate=yes
        ...
    [/unit]
#enddef

Why use an event instead of the normal plague special? The scenario wants Lenvan’s continuing presence to be the cause, wants a difficulty-dependent result, and wants the newly raised unit to inherit an appropriate visual variation.

Core utility reuse: holy water

OBJ_POTION_HOLY_ALT 13 19 (holy_helper) comes from the core item macros. It places a one-use holy-water pickup which can be taken by a side-1 unit with a non-arcane melee attack. For the current scenario, the macro appends the arcane weapon special to that unit’s melee attacks.

Provided by core	Campaign contribution
Pickup logic, eligibility filters, take/leave menu, sound, item removal, temporary object, attack effect	Coordinates and a unique item ID

Artifact-state design

Have_Ruby is cleared at victory even though the Ruby remains in the story. That is intentional state minimization:

Need	State solution
Track whether both objectives are complete inside Scenario 06	Temporary boolean `Have_Ruby`
Track possession after Scenario 06	No variable required; every valid exit from the scenario guarantees the Ruby was taken.

Authoring principle. Do not persist a flag merely because an event matters narratively. Persist it only when later code must distinguish multiple possible states.

Assets and units

Resource	Origin	Use
`story/trow_story_06-Temple_in_the_Deep.webp`	Campaign	Catacomb descent story panel
Haldric portrait variants	Campaign	Combat and discovery dialogue
Chest, dragon statues, holy-water image, Wesnoth icon	Core/shared	Quest and pickup presentation
`knalgan_theme.ogg`, `underground.ogg`, `open-chest.wav`, holy-water sound list	Core/shared	Music and interaction audio
Lich, skeleton line, Tentacle of the Deep, Walking Corpse, Soulless	Core	Entire dungeon enemy set

Scenario WML · Map source · Campaign macro source · Core item macros

Lessons for campaign authors

Pattern	Reuse lesson
Two objectives completable in either order	Disable automatic victory and let each event check the other condition.
Protagonist-only artifact pickup	Use a unit filter, a clear feedback animation, and `allow_undo` for invalid visitors.
Temporary story-state flag	Clear it after the scenario when later code cannot encounter an alternative state.
Reanimate fallen allies through a utility macro	Centralize repeated unit creation and preserve visual variations.
Use core item macros	A complete interactive pickup may require only coordinates and an ID.

← 05 — The Oldwood 07 — Return to Oldwood →

Release 1.0.0. Source snapshot: Wesnoth 6ab3fc1, accessed July 12, 2026. This site has no external runtime dependencies and can be opened directly from disk.

Identity

Story & dialogue

Map description

Objectives and victory logic

Sides and AI

Difficulty scaling

Special events

Campaign utility: RISE_UP_RISE_UP

Core utility reuse: holy water

Artifact-state design

Assets and units

Lessons for campaign authors

Campaign utility: `RISE_UP_RISE_UP`