Temple of Gruumsh

The temple's history is known chiefly through Draak's account and the purpose attributed to the old orc elders. It began as a secluded place to investigate the darkness beneath the Suss Forest and the corruption spreading from captured fey. Its scholars and priests preserved observations, arguments, and procedures rather than a single settled doctrine. The watershed moment was the elders' recognition that the corruption was not confined to the forest's depths. It had begun spreading through the fey they held for study. That discovery changed the temple from a place of inquiry into a containment site. The elders had to decide whether to free their captives, continue the research, or destroy those they feared were compromised. Their disagreement appears to have shaped the temple's guarded practices and left its legacy ethically divided. The temple's later fate is unknown. The old civilization declined or disappeared, and no confirmed line of custodians is known today. Draak believes the temple may still hold knowledge relevant to the Werewolf Lord and the Demon Gate. That belief gives the site renewed importance, but it does not establish that the elders found a solution, that the records survived, or that the temple remains safe to enter.

Faction · Divided

Temple of Gruumsh

Among those who know of it, the Temple of Gruumsh is remembered as an ancient orc sanctuary of stern learning and dangerous foresight.

Type: Ancient orc temple and…
Size: Historically a small
Reach: Potentially significant…
Base: An unconfirmed site associated with the old orc civilization, somewhere in or near the Suss Forest.

Overview

How it began

The Temple of Gruumsh was established by elders of the old orc civilization after they found signs of a spreading darkness beneath the Suss Forest and learned that captured fey were changing in ways they could not explain. The elders disagreed about whether the fey were victims, carriers, or keys to understanding the threat. They built a secluded sanctuary where competing theories could be tested and preserved. The name invokes Gruumsh, but the surviving accounts frame the temple less as a place of conquest than as a place where the elders confronted a danger they could not afford to ignore.

How to know them

MottoKnow what lies below before it learns your name.

EmblemA white tusk laid across a black, downward-pointing wedge, with a thin red line between them. The tusk represents the old orc elders; the wedge signifies the darkness they believed lay below the forest. The red line is a later addition, its meaning debated by anyone who sees it.

Colours

Bone white, Dried-blood red, Soot black

Signs

A pale tusk over a downward-pointing black wedge.
A red dividing line, possibly added after the corruption began spreading.
The name of Gruumsh, associated with the temple's old orc religious tradition.

DressNo surviving uniform is confirmed. Historically, temple keepers may have worn practical dark garments marked with white tusk or bone tokens, while researchers carried records identifying their assigned chambers. This is a usable custom detail, not established lore.

Standing

AlignmentDivided. Its surviving teachings value survival and hard choices, but different interpreters range from protectors of the vulnerable to advocates of ruthless sacrifice.

AgeAncient; the temple predates the collapse of the old orc civilization by many generations.

WealthUnknown. Its likely value lies in old records, ritual knowledge, and whatever protective or experimental apparatus remains, rather than in confirmed portable treasure.

What they say they want

The elders sought to investigate the darkness beneath the Suss Forest.

They aimed to understand how corruption spread from captured fey.

Their work appears to have been intended to protect their people from a danger they did not understand.

What they are doing now

Preserve or recover the elders' findings about the darkness beneath the Suss Forest.

Determine whether the temple can provide a way to destroy the Werewolf Lord and close the Demon Gate.

Prevent the corruption from spreading beyond the forest, even if that requires sealing the temple and its records forever.

Where it leads

The temple's original ambition was to understand and contain the darkness beneath the Suss Forest before it could threaten the old orc civilization. Its present vision, if it has one, cannot be confirmed. A surviving custodian might see the temple as a last defense, a forbidden archive, or an unfinished experiment.

How others see them

Among those who know of it, the Temple of Gruumsh is remembered as an ancient orc sanctuary of stern learning and dangerous foresight. Others may regard it as a place where elders justified cruel experiments in the name of protecting their people. With its present condition unknown, its reputation is built on fragments and on Draak's account.

People

4 ranks

Unconfirmed

Unknown

The Elder Council0 members
Historically, the senior elders debated policy, authorized dangerous research, and decided what knowledge could leave the temple. The council's current existence is unknown.
The Keepers0 members
Priests and wardens responsible for rites, the temple's seals, and protection of its chambers. They may have been trained to judge whether visitors showed signs of corruption.
The Witnesses0 members
Researchers, record-keepers, and attendants who documented the elders' investigations and maintained the fey containment areas.
The Bound0 members
A disputed category in surviving references. It may refer to prisoners, volunteers, corrupted subjects, or all three. Their true number and fate are unknown.

Other key members

Shess Elder associated with the temple's founding
Brak Possible keeper or warden
Tóikka Possible witness or record-keeper

How they are organised

How it is runA historical religious and scholarly institution whose current organization, if any, is unknown.

Who comes nextHistorically, authority appears to have passed through appointment or recognition by the elder council. If the council survived the civilization's collapse, its succession rules are unknown; no present successor is confirmed.

How they recruitNo current process is known. Historically, appointment appears to have been made by the elder council, with separate obligations for keepers, researchers, and record-keepers.

To join

Historically, membership appears to have required recognition by the elder council or appointment to a temple office.
A prospective keeper may have needed to swear to protect the seals and obey containment rules.
Researchers may have been required to record their findings for the temple rather than claim them as personal property.
No present recruitment requirements are known.

Operations

What they do

Historically: religious rites, research, record-keeping, and containment.

Currently: unknown. It may be abandoned, occupied, sealed, or still functioning.

How they do it

Observation and recording of changes in corrupted fey.

Ritual practice and the maintenance of protective seals.

Debate among elders before authorizing experiments or opening restricted chambers.

Containment of suspected sources of corruption.

Preservation of contradictory findings, whether as a deliberate safeguard or a sign of unresolved disagreement.

Services for hire

Elders' recordsNot applicable unless the site is occupied and its records remain accessible.
The temple may provide historical knowledge, ritual guidance, or procedures for containing corruption, but none of these services is confirmed to survive.

What they can do

May preserve the only surviving body of research on the corruption of captured fey.

May contain wards or procedures intended to isolate a source of supernatural contamination.

Could hold evidence linking the Werewolf Lord, the Demon Gate, and the darkness beneath the Suss Forest, though this remains unverified.

What they have

Potential records of the elders' investigations into the darkness beneath the Suss Forest.

Possible procedures or observations concerning corruption spreading from captured fey.

A likely complex of sealed chambers and old safeguards, though its condition is unknown.

Historical credibility among those who know Draak's account of the old orc civilization.

Where they are weak

The temple's current location, condition, and leadership are unconfirmed.

Its records may be fragmented, contradictory, or written in an unfamiliar script.

Its original safeguards may endanger visitors as readily as they protect the site.

Its history of confining captured fey could undermine trust with fey allies or any character who expects the temple to be morally uncomplicated.

The elders may have failed to discover a safe solution, or may have concealed the one they found.

Territory

Headquarters

An unconfirmed site associated with the old orc civilization, somewhere in or near the Suss Forest.

KindAncient temple and sealed research complex

The temple's present condition is unknown. Draak identifies it as the best remaining source of the elders' knowledge. It may be intact, ruined, occupied, or protected by systems that have outlasted the people who made them. Its original design likely joined a sanctuary for ritual and counsel with sealed chambers for records and dangerous specimens.

Lands they hold

The temple site, whose exact location and condition are unknown.

The Suss Forest, where the darkness beneath the forest was investigated.

Outposts

The sealed chambersUnknown; possibly within the temple complex.Containment and study of corrupted fey, according to the temple's known purpose. Their existence and condition remain unconfirmed.

Secrets

The big secret · GM only

What they really want · GM only

If any custodians remain, they may seek to keep the most dangerous findings sealed, even if the Avengers need them.

A surviving faction of the old priesthood may have wanted to harness the corruption rather than eradicate it.

The temple may be preserving evidence that the Demon Gate and the forest's darkness share a source, a discovery that would challenge the assumption that closing the gate alone will end the threat.

Hidden plans · GM only

Some elders believed that the corruption could only be understood by allowing it to remain inside a controlled subject. If that program continued, the temple may conceal a living test subject or a record of one.

A faction within the old priesthood may have sought to bind the darkness to Gruumsh's power rather than destroy it, hoping to turn a threat into a weapon.

The temple may have preserved not one answer but several mutually exclusive procedures, each championed by rival elders.

Smaller secrets · GM only

What insiders say · GM only

Trouble inside · GM only

The temple's defining conflict was whether knowledge justified the treatment of captured fey. One tradition favored study at any cost, another insisted that the fey were victims deserving release, and a third believed containment mattered more than either discovery or mercy. Their disagreement may still be reflected in contradictory records, separate wards, or surviving custodians. In the present, anyone seeking the temple must decide whether to trust Draak's hope, the elders' caution, or their own judgment.

Crimes · GM only

The elders captured and confined fey in order to study the corruption spreading through them.

Some accounts suggest that the temple's wardens destroyed compromised subjects when they feared the corruption would spread. Whether this was mercy, necessity, or an excuse for cruelty remains disputed.

The old civilization concealed the danger beneath the Suss Forest from neighboring peoples until the threat became difficult to contain.

Plot hooks

5 hooks

1
A Mark Beneath the Moss
Personal; discovery and interpretationReward: A useful lead, personal revelation, or access to a minor record
A character hears a repeated phrase or recognizes an old orc mark in a place connected to the temple. Draak can explain why it matters, but the clue could indicate a warning, a ward, or a record of someone the elders failed to save.
2
The Door the Elders Shut
Party-scale; exploration and ethical choiceReward: Access to records, a dangerous tool, or a way to earn a custodian's trust
The Avengers reach the temple and find its outer protections still active. A route inside requires choosing between a sealed passage that may preserve the archive and a damaged entrance that may lead directly to the containment rooms.
3
The Price of a Proven Answer
Regional; investigation, negotiation, and sacrificeReward: A credible means to challenge the Werewolf Lord, with a serious cost
A record describes a method that might weaken the Werewolf Lord, but it depends on information held in a separate, more dangerous part of the temple. The method may also harm or permanently bind corrupted fey.
4
Two Endings for the Gate
Campaign-scale; research and consequenceReward: A consequential choice that changes the campaign's threat landscape
The archive contains two incompatible accounts of how to close the Demon Gate. One claims the corruption's source must be destroyed; the other warns that destroying it would open a path for the darkness beneath the forest. The party must decide what evidence to seek before acting.
5
What the Prisoner Saw
Local to regional; investigation and rescueReward: A witness, a shortcut, or an urgent warning
A prisoner from the prison camp has seen a sign, phrase, or object matching one in the temple's records. The connection could reveal a route to the site, expose an old experiment, or mean that the corruption has already reached the camp.

Work they offer

1Recover the elders' records before the corruption, scavengers, or failing wards destroy them.

2Find out whether the temple holds a reliable method to destroy the Werewolf Lord.

3Determine what the elders learned about closing the Demon Gate.

4Discover whether the captured fey can be freed without spreading the corruption.

What gets in the way

The temple's records may be incomplete, deliberately misleading, or dangerous to interpret without the context the elders possessed.

The old research treats captured fey as both victims and evidence. Any attempt to use the records could force a choice between immediate victory and the fey's freedom.

The temple's original safeguards may regard all living visitors as potential carriers of corruption.

Draak's account is a guide to the temple's purpose, not proof of its current condition or of what its elders concluded.

Rumours

1True: Draak believes the temple is the best hope for learning how to destroy the Werewolf Lord and close the Demon Gate.

2True: The elders investigated both the darkness beneath the Suss Forest and corruption spreading from captured fey.

3Unconfirmed: The temple contains a living corrupted fey that has outlasted the old civilization.

4Unconfirmed: The temple's wards were designed to keep the elders' own experiments from escaping.

5False or distorted: The temple holds a single, complete prophecy that names the person who will close the Demon Gate.

Temple of Gruumsh

Temple of Gruumsh

Overview

How it began

How to know them

Standing

What they say they want

What they are doing now

Where it leads

How others see them

People

Unconfirmed

Other key members

How they are organised

Relations

Operations

What they do

How they do it

Services for hire

What they can do

What they have

Where they are weak

Territory

Headquarters

Lands they hold

Outposts

Secrets

Plot hooks

Work they offer

What gets in the way

Rumours

Connections

Media

Turn Temple of Gruumsh into a sheet