Page 62 - Tales from the Yawning Portal

THE HIDDEN SHRINE OF TAMOACHAN

a, THE RUINS: GENERAL FEATURES
HE ANCIENT RUINED CITY OF TAMOACHA'.\
is familiar to a select few scholars and
The walls inside the ruins are constructed of blocks of
fortune seekers, who know of it but not
unmortared stone covered by stucco. The ceilings are of
always exactly where it is. Even more
secluded, lying somewhere within or be- the same material, supported by corbel arches.
neath the ruins, is a hidden shrine said to Ceilings. Most of the hallways have 20-foot ceilings.
be dedicated to Zotzilaha, the vampire god Some rooms have ceilings of 20 to 40 feet in height.
Doors. Doors are made of beaten bronze or slabs of
~ the underworld. Adventurers who catch wind of the
ace are likely to find its lure irresistible. stone. While heavy, they can be opened without a check.
If the characters find their way to the environs of the Unsafe Stonework. In some places, the corbel arches
:uined city, their next order of business might be to that hold up the ceiling aren't structurally sound. As a
:et up a camp nearby. After a few hours of searching, result, some spells might have disastrous effects. A spell
hey can find an easily defended glade with an arte- like fireball (an explosion) or thunderwave (an area of
;,· an spring. thunder damage) has a 25 percent chance to cause a
~fost of the city is toppled and almost completely ceiling collapse within the spell's area, dealing 16 (3d10)
overed in undergrowth. Intruders who enter the ruins bludgeoning damage to creatures in the area. This col-
- II discover that the ancient streets now serve as over- lapse might block or bury objects or exits.
,,rown "valleys" between the debris of the crumbled Poisonous Gas. The lower levels of the ruins, in-
cluding the rooms and passages of encounter areas 1
· ildings. The largest of these valleys all lead to the cen-
through 38, are filled with poisonous gas. The gas is an
-al clearing where a great pyramid stands.
amber color, and its area is lightly obscured. Anyone can
In the south side of that clearing is a newly collapsed
tell that the gas is irritating, but it takes a successful DC
rea, revealing a jagged hole with a debris-covered slide,
15 Intelligence (Nature) check to discern the gas's toxic-
ading down into darkness.
ity. Flames in the gas sputter and glow redly, and any at-
tempt to use natural means to ignite a fire has only a 50
RUNNING THE ADVENTURE
percent chance of success. Fire used as a light source
:-. e adventure, which is designed for a group of four has an effective radius only half normal.
- five 5th-level player characters, gets under way the A creature takes 3 (ld6) poison damage every hour
orning after the characters arrive in the vicinity of the it spends in the gas. The gas is light, so it accumulates
ins and make camp. When all of them have risen and closer to the ceiling. Inhabitants of the dungeon have
nished preparing for the day's travel, read: immunity to the poisonous effect of the gas.
.!,s you head toward the pyramid temple, you tread across PLACING THE ADVENTURE
In the original adventure, set in the world ofGreyhawk, the
cracked and overgrown flagstones, stepping over fallen
Hidden Shrine is part of the ancient ruined city ofTamoa-
a'ld shattered pillars, pushing aside vines and briars.
chan, once the northernmost capital of the Olman empire.
When you are nearly at the temple, the sound of crea- The civilization of the Olman people covered much of
-ures crashing through the underbrush comes from be- the southern continent centuries before current history
began. Tamoachan is located in the savage lands south of
~ nd you. You turn around to see people moving through
the Olman Islands and southeast of the Holds of the Sea
-,e woods toward the clearing around the pyramid. Princes. The climate is subtropical and very damp; it rains
Then, suddenly, the earth shudders and gapes open nearly every afternoon.
In other worlds, similar possibilities can be found.
:ieneath your feet and you are falling amid the roar of
Dragonlance. The hidden shrine might not be part of an
collapsing masonry. Dust fills the air and the sunlight dis- ancient city on Krynn, but instead an isolated temple for
appears as the darkness swallows you. a weird dead cult devoted to the god Chemosh. The site
could date back to the Age of Dreams, and might be on an
isle or in an isolated region near the Blood Sea of I star.
- e party has fallen into area 1 of the dungeon, which is Eberron. On Eberron, the site might be the ancient seat
·here play begins. of an elven cult, possibly connected to the line of Vol. Al-
ternatively, Tamoachan could be a truly primeval location
in Q'barra, and the Olman "gods" actually fiends from the
THE RUINS OF THE SHRINE Age of Demons.
'ap 3.1 shows the layout of the shrine, and later Forgotten Realms. Because the people of Maztica closely
_ections of this adventure describe what can be resemble the Olman, that region is a likely place for the
und there. ruined city and the shrine. Tamoachan might instead be a
lost city in the jungles of Ch ult.

CHAPTER 3 I THE HIDDEN SHRINE OF TAMOACHAN
61