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Temple · Medium · Level 8 · Medium

The Reedbed Temple

A cold bell note shivers through the stone, and water runs uphill along the wall.
Rooms
15
Foes
19, CR 2 to 8
Traps
3
Treasure
4,005 gp
123456789101112131415Entrance
Select a room on the plan to open it.

The party is in

1. Flooded Vestibule

Seen

Something wanders by

At a glance

The threat

A drowned temple guardian waits in room 12, bound to the bronze bell and the cistern beneath the sanctum.

Wandering monsters (1d3)

  1. 1

    1d4× Drowned acolytesCR 3

    When: They appear after a loud fight or when the party spends more than 10 minutes in a corridor.A pair of drowned acolytes drag their feet through the channels, whispering the same prayer in a steady rhythm.
  2. 2

    Drain crawlerCR 4

    When: It attacks when a character walks alone or falls behind the group.A pale, slick crawler clings to the ceiling, following the party by the sound of their footsteps.
  3. 3

    1d3× Silt ghoulsCR 2

    When: They stir when the party disturbs a shrine or leaves food in a corridor.Small mud-caked dead emerge from cracks in the floor, carrying fragments of temple pottery.

Rooms

15
1

Flooded Vestibule

2 foestreasuresecret

What they see

Read aloud

A broad stone vestibule stands above the waterline, its floor scored by generations of muddy boots. Four doorways lead onward, while a faint bell note seems to come from below the eastern wall.

Features

  • A chipped relief shows priests draining a marsh basin.
  • The western secret door is concealed behind a stone panel depicting bundled reeds.
  • Mud tracks lead toward rooms 1 and 2.

What the GM knows

Monsters

2× Drowned acolytesCR 2

These waterlogged dead wear cracked temple robes and have reeds tangled through their ribs.Tactics. They stagger from behind the relief, grapple one intruder at a time, and try to drag victims toward the water channel.

Treasure

Silted offering bowl75 gp

A tarnished offering bowl contains old silver coins beneath a layer of silt.
Room secrets · GM only

Notes

The party can hear faint scraping from room 2 and a soft prayer from room 1. The west secret door is discoverable with a Wisdom (Perception) check.

1 door: N (normal)

The place

What it is

The Reedbed Temple was built beneath a drained marsh, and its lower halls are slowly flooding again.

Atmosphere

Cold water beads on the walls, carrying a smell of wet clay, old incense, and crushed reeds.

The threat

A drowned temple guardian waits in room 12, bound to the bronze bell and the cistern beneath the sanctum.

History

The Reedbed Temple was raised by a small order of marsh priests who drained a reed-choked basin to establish a dry sanctuary.

Rumors

1d4
Roll a rumor

  1. 1A bell rings under the marsh on nights when the tide is low, though no one has seen a boat there in years.
  2. 2The temple's lower rooms were built to keep water out, but something inside is trying to let it back in.
  3. 3A surveyor found a dry route beneath the old shrines and never returned to mark it.
  4. 4The drowned dead in the temple leave the prayer bowls untouched, even when they attack everyone nearby.

Plot hooks

3
InvestigationThe Returning WaterThe farms downstream are flooding with brackish water, and a local priest believes the old temple's sluice has failed. The party must reach the cistern and decide whether to repair or permanently open it.From: A worried farmer whose fields have begun to drownReward: A purse of 500 gp and a deed to a dry riverside plot
RecoveryThe Bell BelowA bell has begun tolling beneath the marsh each night. A nearby congregation wants the party to recover its bronze clapper, which was taken into the temple long ago.From: A local shrine keeperReward: A blessed shield and 300 gp
RescueNotes in the FloodA surveyor vanished while following the old temple's drainage channels. Their notes, rumored to be in the common rooms, may identify a safe route to the cistern.From: The surveyor's anxious siblingReward: A map of the surrounding marsh and 400 gp

Corridors

3

  • Main passage between rooms 0, 1, and 5

    A shallow channel runs along the floor, carrying black water toward the lower rooms. The current briefly reverses whenever the bell in the boss chamber sounds.

  • Passages near rooms 2 and 8

    Reeds grow from cracks in the stone despite the lack of sunlight. Their papery leaves conceal small holes that release a harmless but pungent cloud of marsh gas when disturbed.

  • Passage between rooms 3 and 10

    The walls bear faded reliefs of workers uprooting reeds and piling them beside a drained basin. A fresh scrape in the dust suggests someone recently examined the carvings.

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