Editor's Note: //DNGN// is a bi-monthly feature showcasing original works from the underground. Expect dungeon synth, dungeon crawlers, OSR modules, and similar.

Stream Ancient Kingdom's Secrets In The Sand | Bandcamp | YouTube

—Sand—

—grits—

—in—

—teeth—coarse from the relentless noise.

Robin Aarseth Larsson delivers. The barbarian, thick, a tree trunk in a lifeless land, stands firm, axe in hand.

Carrion vultures circle the caravan

// Blood drinkers //

No water in the dust // They survive on flesh of man and beast // Your people look weaker than the sun looks bright // Another step // Rising synths pace the hard grave gravel // Bells play // The city // The sand dwellers // Massive colored tents gleam in sunlight // Shimmering fabrics // Juxtapose // Another heavy foot into ever-thinner sand // The mask clings, heavy with breath and sweat // Heavy realization ((((o)))) mirage, mirage, mirage // Synths rise, accelerando, agitato, arpeggio.

SANDWORMS—intermission track | breaks | the desert’s void from daytime heat to cool nights // Starry Night’s noisy, heavy, filling synths give way to slight uplifts, horn-laced // tinges of lizards, spiders, burrowers, wanderers moving through the land, track pulses with intense life.

/ / / /

Rest, the day’s heat drains spirits, illusions tinge sand in throat, hair roughens // Morning // The barbarian outpost.

\ \ \ \

Long winds cut the air, rising with sun’s heat // Shimmering synths break night’s void, rays of star dew from a forgotten sun god’s torch.

These rest heads on sandy stone bedrock: raiders, traders, heady soothsayers, prostitutes // Seedy, yet resistance to sand // Your party trades, rests, as sky darkens with vibrato of storm clouds.

Desert Winds // Coldness // Stillness // Noise-textured // Tension-laced // Drawn-out knowing a storm cloud nears, anticipation of distemperment >> Forward progression >> Rising, rising, rising // Drawn out like a cool summer breeze on a hot bayou day // Sand and noise climax // Desert Winds gives way to Dawn.

Heat comes fast // Birds, desert lurch, humble pheasant coo as dawnbreak crosses the outpost // Biscuits, hearty gravy, thick synths hit like fresh oxen milk // Sand’s grit never leaves tongue.

Final Track // SLASH! // sharp cut to foreboding sounds // Chest, chained a thousand times, blessed a thousand more for travel, rickety, rust-bound, stamped with caravaneer tax, cedar wood alien to stone land // Barbarians gather // Ritual stone // Unseen place in outpost // Room fills with smoke // Fragrances // Mirth // Frankincense // She opens it, black wool cloak barely hiding blood-soaked breasts // The orb // Light shimmers, fills room // Synths fill room // Sand fills room // Light fills room // Synths fill room // Sand fills room // Light fills room // Orb, blackest hue of obsidian, unnaturally so, impossibly so, unnaturally so, impossibly so, unnaturally so, impossibly so, unnaturally so, impossibly so, unnaturally so, impossibly so, unnaturally so, impossibly so, unnaturally so, impossibly so, unnaturally so, impossibly so, unnaturally so, impossibly so, unnaturally so, impossibly so, unnaturally so, impossibly so, unnaturally so, impossibly so.

Stream Ancient Kingdom's Secrets In The Sand | Bandcamp | YouTube