You enter a circular temple chamber where cold blue-green light gathers in the cracks between black stones. An altar stands beneath a faded mural, its four shallow stations linked by tarnished silver channels. Dust lies thick everywhere except around a soot-stained lamp and a small clay road-token. A translucent child watches from beside a sealed doorway, clutching a wooden horse; whenever the child moves, the lamp's dead wick gives a faint amber pulse.
You step into a round temple chamber, where cold air carries the smell of wet stone and extinguished candles. A child in a faded robe stands beside a sealed doorway, clutching a wooden horse. The altar's silver channels glimmer faintly beneath dust, and a dead lamp pulses once with amber light as the child looks toward you.
The child says, "Are you here to play, or to make me go away?" The mural shows four scenes in sequence: an ear, a toy held in a hand, a lamp, and an open door. The clay token and lamp are easy to reach. If called dead, Mara flares with blue light and objects sharply, but remains in the chamber.
Let players talk to Mara and inspect the mural before escalating. Offer the first hint after several minutes of circular discussion; use a successful check to clarify the mural, not to solve the social interaction for them. On a failed attempt, show a brief echo of the rite and let them try again with a cost rather than ending the scene.
You enter a circular temple chamber where cold blue-green light gathers in the cracks between black stones. An altar stands beneath a faded mural, its four shallow stations linked by tarnished silver channels. Dust lies thick everywhere except around a soot-stained lamp and a small clay road-token. A translucent child watches from beside a sealed doorway, clutching a wooden horse; whenever the child moves, the lamp's dead wick gives a faint amber pulse.
The mural's scenes and silver channels describe a sequence of courtesies rather than a spell: listen, remember, light the way, then open the road. The child is a ghost, but the rite works only if the party approaches him as a person and lets him participate willingly.
Read the four scenes from left to right, following the thin silver line.
The Ear Ask the traveler how he is called. A name given freely is a door unbarred.
The Hand Ask what laughter he would keep. Speak it back, and let it live between you.
The Lamp Kindle a light that does not command. A small flame can show a road without choosing it.
The Open Door Lay down the road-token. Leave the way unblocked. Invite the traveler onward; do not push him through.
No road opens to a name denied, a memory taken, or a hand that forces.
The party can inspect the altar and mural freely, speak with Mara, and use ordinary objects or magic as part of the rite. The four stations must be addressed in mural order: listen for Mara's chosen name, offer a sincere memory of his life, light the lamp, then place the road-token at the threshold and invite him to cross. Players should ask rather than demand; Mara can provide his name and a memory if treated kindly. The altar gives feedback: the corresponding silver channel warms and glows after each accepted step, while an out-of-order or insincere offering makes the glow fade. No spell, check, or exact phrase is mandatory. Checks reveal clues and context, but roleplay and sensible equivalents can solve the rite without rolling.
The encounter begins when the party enters the chamber. The ritual can be attempted at any time; Mara becomes hostile only if threatened, forcibly restrained, or told he is dead in a blunt, dismissive way.
| DC | Check | What it gives |
|---|---|---|
| 13 | Intelligence (Investigation) | Notice that the four mural scenes correspond to the four shallow ritual stations and that the rubbed silver lines indicate their order. |
| 14 | Intelligence (Religion) | Recall that ancient funerary rites often invited the dead onward through remembrance and hospitality, rather than naming death as a verdict. |
| 14 | Intelligence (Arcana) | Understand that the apparatus responds to sincere offerings and spoken words, not to a specific spell or magical key. |
| 12 | Wisdom (Insight) | Recognize that Mara reacts to being treated as a person, and that bluntly telling him he is dead will make him defensive. |
No hint given yet.
The lamp burns with a steady amber flame. The dark membrane parts into a quiet passage of starlight, and Mara's expression softens. He may say goodbye in his own words, then crosses willingly. The chamber grows warmer, and the altar's silver channels remain lit long enough to reveal the reliquary's hidden latch.
On a failed attempt, the lamp goes dark and Mara recoils, requiring a minute of calm conversation before another attempt. On the third failure, each creature within 10 feet of the altar takes 2d6 necrotic damage, or half as much on a successful DC 13 Constitution saving throw. Mara then withdraws into the mural for ten minutes; the party can still complete the rite when he returns. This damage does not destroy the altar or bar another attempt.
The temple's last death-priest, Aveline of the Quiet Road, built this chamber for the spirits of children who died far from home. Her rite was not a command to depart but a sequence of courtesies: hear the child's name, remember a moment of life, offer a light, and leave a path open. Generations later, the temple was abandoned and its priesthood's traditions vanished. The rite's instructions survived in fragments, while the child, Mara, remained bound by loneliness and the living world's silence.
For a lower-power party, remove the necrotic damage from the third failure and have Mara withdraw instead. For a stronger party, the third failure can summon two specters that dissipate if the party resumes the rite; do not let combat prevent the party from completing it.
Mara is wary, not malicious. He may be sharp-tongued or make small objects rattle, but he does not attack unless threatened. Do not require a character to know the original rite; the artifact and observable feedback provide enough clues. Accept sincere, equivalent acts rather than exact wording.
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