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Dungeons
Temple · Medium · Level 4 · Hard

Keep Below Temple

Black water laps at the ziggurat steps, and a funeral lamp burns white behind the mist.
Rooms
13
Foes
19, CR 1/8 to 2
Traps
3
Treasure
540 gp
12345678910111213Entrance
Select a room on the plan to open it.

The party is in

1. Flooded Forecourt

Seen

Something wanders by

At a glance

The threat

Two Tharizdun cultists have reached the innermost chamber and are preparing to seize the relic.

Wandering monsters (1d3)

  1. 1

    Bead-jawed crocodileCR 1/4

    When: It attacks when a creature carries food, bloodied gear, or a bright lamp through a flooded passage; otherwise it lurks beneath the water and watches passersby.A pale swamp crocodile with a chain of funerary beads tangled around its jaw.
  2. 2

    Lost temple keeperCR 1/2

    When: It appears when a loud fight disturbs the tombs or a character defiles a funerary carving.A restless dragonborn skeleton in a cracked burial harness, still trying to guide intruders toward the judgment hall.
  3. 3

    2× Mist patrolCR 1/8

    When: They investigate loud noises in the corridors, then attempt to raise an alarm and retreat toward or .Two robed cult lookouts with shortbows and a shared whistle made from bone.

Rooms

13
1

Flooded Forecourt

treasuresecret

What they see

Read aloud

The ziggurat's base opens through an archway into a broad entry hall. Muddy cultist prints cross older tracks that lead toward the storage room, while a broken Kelemvor relief has been laid face-down in the water.

Features

  • A sloped floor drains toward a central stone grate.
  • The western arch bears a worn inscription: 'All lives come to judgment.'

What the GM knows

Treasure

Keeper's Token5 gp

A small bronze funerary token stamped with the old temple mark.
Room secrets · GM only

Notes

The party can hear faint movement in if they pause. Tracks show at least four people entered recently; two sets return toward the outer tiers.

2 doors: S (normal), S (locked)

The place

What it is

A stepped Dragonborn ziggurat rises from a drowned plain, its upper tiers almost lost in unending mist.

Atmosphere

Cold mist beads on black stone and muffles footsteps.

The threat

Two Tharizdun cultists have reached the innermost chamber and are preparing to seize the relic.

History

Dragonborn keepers built this ziggurat as a temple and mortuary to Kelemvor, raising it above the marshland to judge the dead and guard their remains.

Rumors

1d5
Roll a rumor

  1. 1A stepped stone temple stands somewhere in the swamp, but anyone who follows its lights walks in circles until dawn.
  2. 2The swamp water bubbles around the old ziggurat even on the coldest nights, as if something below is breathing.
  3. 3Aethelgard Xul-Vrahel sealed a terrible power beneath the temple and left a relic behind to keep the prison shut.
  4. 4Black-robed strangers have been buying maps and asking about old Dragonborn graves.
  5. 5The dead in the marsh sometimes speak the names of people who have not yet died.

Plot hooks

3
InvestigationThe Bells UnderwaterA village's funeral bells have begun ringing from beneath the swamp, and the dead are rising from their graves. The party must find the ziggurat and stop the cult before the disturbance spreads.From: A village gravedigger who refuses to leave the burial groundReward: A consecrated silvered weapon and a map of the safe causeways
RescueThe Scout in the CellsA local scout vanished after discovering a hidden entrance in the ziggurat's lower tier. Her family wants her brought home, but the cultists have already taken her prisoner.From: The missing scout's older siblingReward: A substantial bounty and the scout's recovered field journal
RetrievalA Relic Left BehindA scholar has learned that the relic is keeping Tharizdun sealed and insists it must be recovered intact. The party must reach it before the cultists, then decide whether to remove it or leave it guarded.From: A Dragonborn archivist carrying a damaged temple rubbingReward: A rare spell scroll and access to the archivist's restricted library

Corridors

4

  • Passage between and

    Dragonborn funerary carvings show the dead walking toward a balanced pair of scales. Fresh black wax has been pressed into the eyes of several figures.

  • Passage outside

    A knee-deep seam of swamp water crosses the floor, carrying tiny bubbles that pop with faint whispers. It is harmless, but noisy movement may alert creatures in .

  • Passage between and

    A cracked relief depicts a cleric sealing a star-shaped darkness beneath a ziggurat. Cultists have scratched out the cleric's face but left the hands intact.

  • Passage outside

    The stone grows noticeably warm near a hairline crack, and a thin thread of mist streams inward against the corridor's slope.

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