When I was bringing my first 5e campaign to a close, the PCs were trying to rid themselves of a curse they had acquired after finding and removing an evil idol from a warded vault deep beneath the earth (intending to have it destroyed). The idol depicted a tentacled, demonic figure that they could not rid themselves of—no matter what they did or where they tried to leave it, it always reappeared among their belongings.
Part of the curse revealed the party's location to sinister beings from beyond (mind flayers) who sent their minions to attempt to retrieve it. These minions included gnolls, frog-demons (slaad), and members of the Cult of Khoss. The cult misguidedly thought they could subvert the mind flayers to their cause, but soon found themselves under the thrall of the alien geniuses.
A faction of the cultists who remained free of the mind flayers' control made contact with the PCs and divulged that the mind flayers' base of operations (and the source of the idol's cursed power) lay within the Howling Hills of northwestern Remedios, among the ruins of an ancient civilization that once worshipped the mind flayers. The cultists provided the party with another piece of crucial information: The mind flayers already possessed two similar idols, but needed the party's third idol to open a portal to their beyond-realm, through which "something" would emerge to conquer this world.
Finally, the cultists gave the party directions to the site. The cultists' plan was to convince the party to go to the temple and do the dirty work of wiping out the mind flayers (or at least distracting them) while they freed their enthralled comrades and escaped the area. Whether the party succeeded or not was irrelevant to the cult (Glorious chaos!); they simply wanted to extract themselves from a situation that had gotten out of their control. This was the background for the campaign's grand finale.
I originally intended for this site to be a megadungeon setting for the campaign's low- to mid-levels (I even incorporated part of Jaquay's Caverns of Thracia into the mix), but the players didn't bite on the hooks that were presented early-on, and ended up doing other things. Once they acquired the curse, however, I had some ideas for retooling the material into a higher-level, end-game scenario.
The following is the adventure setting I worked up, though I've removed the 5e details. I may or may not post the actual dungeon crawls that accompanied the adventure, depending how frosty I feel about doing the extra work of de-5e-ing it, but I'll see how it goes. Mainly, I wanted to post the regional map and the temple ruins map for anyone to use and adapt into their own scenarios. (I think the temple map may be the best map I've ever created.)
Part 1 covers the immediate region around the temple, which the party had to navigate to attain the temple. Part 2 will cover the secret entrance into the temple ruins (which the party discovered), and Part 3 will cover the ruins themselves.
The Temple Valley
The remnants of an ancient civilization of humans and their temple lie at the eastern edge of the rugged hills bordering Pelthan Forest in the land of Remedios. The temple complex is located within a ravine quarried from a hill at the intersection of three valleys.
The surrounding hills are rocky and foreboding, made more difficult by dense scrub, briar patches, tangling vines, and intermittent stands of short, spindly trees. Remains of the ancient “empire” can be seen everywhere: standing stones, cracked courtyards, toppled pillars and statuary, heaps of rubble that were clearly once buildings, etc.
The air in the region seems unnaturally still and stifling, and a smoky pall hangs over the valleys.
Map Key
–Vantage Hill
The PCs followed the cult’s directions to the summit of this high hill (marked with an 'x'), giving them a good view of the region laid out before them. Several points of interest are immediately noticeable:
–Valleys
Three grassy valleys meet here. Stands of trees and patches of bushy scrub dot the valley slopes. Rivulets trickle down from the heights. Stubby boulders litter the valleys, poking up from the stiff grass.
–Temple Mound
This horseshoe-shaped hill is oriented north-south. The exterior and interior slopes of the hill have been quarried away, leaving a deep central ravine surrounded on all sides by sheer cliff walls.
The open end of the ravine is a narrow pass through the hill’s southern face. From the vantage hill, the top of a pyramidal structure can be seen cresting over the top of the ridgeline at the north end of the ravine, but nothing more of the temple complex can be seen from here.
Access to the ravine's interior is possible by one of four means:
1) Entering via the chasm-like mouth of the ravine. This cleft in the rock was excavated long ago. The passage is roughly 500-ft. long and 120-ft. wide, with sheer cliff walls more than 300 ft. high, but open to the sky. The cleft slopes slightly, descending ~50 ft. to the temple gates.
2) Making a steep climb up a sheer, 300 ft. high cliff from the valley floor to the ridge line ringing the ravine. Scaling the hillside is a rugged climb, even with the proper climbing tools. Where the hillside is bare, the rocky slopes are crumbling and treacherous. Where there is foliage, the cliff is dense with scrub, vines, and briars.
The top of the ridge surrounding the ravine is a jagged shelf of rock roughly 60–100 ft. wide in most places. Short trees and scrub cover the ridge line, although bare escarpments of rock poke out of the foliage in places.
On the opposite side of the ridge is a similarly steep 400-ft. drop to the valley floor (or about 300 ft. to either terrace). The hillsides within the valley were quarried centuries ago and have better footing with plenty of ledges, but they are still overgrown with thick vines and foliage.
3) Ascending a concealed stair, hidden by scrub and foliage at the base of the eastern face of the temple mound. The narrow switchback stair is cut into the rock, and rises precipitously about two-thirds of the way up the vine-shrouded hillside. At the top of the stair is a wide stone plaza, where darkened portals lead into the cliff wall (see Part 2).
4) Flying, either magically or assisted by a winged mount.
- An uncomfortable buzzing sensation, which is felt more than heard, fills the air.
Acrid vapors seep from the ground in spots, often from puddles of orange, sulfurous liquid.
- Pervasive vines of an unknown species emerge from the ground and spread out like black tentacles across the rocks. The vines writhe subtly, as though fluid courses through them (if severed, a disgusting, slimy sap oozes forth).
The hills’ natural foliage is withering and being steadily replaced by thorny scrub.
- Intruders endure a constant feeling of being watched, especially out in the open.
Waves of psychic energy flash across the hills. Perceptive PCs with a high WIS score may sense these waves.
–Hillman Camp
Tendrils of smoke from dozens of campfires drift from a sprawling settlement of hide tents and lean-to shelters.
- The camp is inhabited by a tribe of 150 hill barbarians—the primitive descendants of the ancient people who built the temple complex. Roughly 80 men, 70 women, and 45 children of various ages dwell in the camp.
The hillmen hunt and gather along the valley slopes for food, but know not to stray too far into the hills unless in large groups.
- The tribe was summoned here by their chieftain, who is now a thrall of the mind flayers.
The hillmen believe that the gods have returned to the temple, and that their tribe has been called to witness the rebirth of their former empire.
- In fact, the mind flayers are enthralling the hillmen to use as minions, as food, and as hosts for their hideous larvae.
To the south of the hillman camp is a second, smaller cluster of hide tents that house the mind flayers' gnoll minions.
- The gnolls roam the hills immediately surrounding the camp.
Living in the camp are 35 gnoll males, 22 females, and 26 whelps, along with 55 hyenas, 23 leucrotta, and the gnolls' pack leader—the ferocious Blackfur Flind.
- A dozen of the pack's most powerful males serve as the Blackfur Flind's personal guard.
Additional Points of Interest
The following locations are not immediately visible from the vantage hill, but may be discovered as the PCs investigate the surrounding area.
–Hillside Ruins
Carved into the hillside here is a temple façade, where a narrow portal leads into a grand, but crumbling gallery.
- Dark passages lead out of the gallery, which the gnolls have tentatively begun to explore as a potential new den, but they face resistance from the ruins’ monstrous inhabitant.
A ferocious chimera roams these ruins, and makes its lair deep in the structure’s interior.
–Flooded Ruins
Toppled structures litter this bowl-like gully, which has become a muddy bog dotted with scrub. A natural berm bisects the bog, creating a relatively dry elevated path that traverses the area.
(6) swamp trolls lurk in the water here. Treat as standard trolls with the following changes:
Their slimy, boil-covered skin gives them fire resistance. If they make the saving throw to reduce a fire effect’s damage, then their regeneration ability is not cancelled.
- Whenever a troll takes damage, roll 1d6: On a 5 or 6, one of the troll's boils bursts open, releasing one of the following effects that fills a random space within 5 feet of the troll (1d4):
- A swarm of biting flies emerges from the ruptured boil and “attacks” the nearest creature that isn't a troll. The attack causes no damage, but instead gives the troll a bonus on its next attack against the distracted victim. The swarm disperses the following round.
Acid spray: 2d6 damage; save for half.
- Diseased slime: Roll a save to avoid contact with the slime; if failed, the victim contracts a pestilent fever that continues to weaken them every hour thereafter until they eventually die of exhaustion.
Sticky goop splashes on 1–2 adjacent targets, who must roll a save or suffer a penalty to attack rolls until they spend 1d3+1 rounds scraping the goop off.
–Shelter Cave
A tunnel in the hillside to the north of the temple mound will be found by the PCs should they pass through this general area.
- The tunnel leads into a dry cave inhabited by a clutch of umber hulks.
Once the umber hulks are overcome, the cave can serve as a safe base of operations for the party to rest without having to journey back to town.
–Crumbling Watchtower
The ruined tower stands atop a hill to the west of the temple mound, overlooking another valley intersection. A family of (2) hill giant adults and their (3) children (treat as ogres) live within the shell of the tower.
- The male giant’s name is Yorg, and his wife is Nuhr. Their children are Brug, Gropp, and Furd.
The giants wander the east-west valley to the north of the temple, looking for food or hapless hillmen who stray too far into their territory.
- The giants will not venture too near the temple mound, as they are aware of the presence of the mind flayers (“Bad mojo there”).
