Page 93 - Tales from the Yawning Portal

Open and Shut. The stairs lead up to a blank wall m-er an opening that seems to lead down deeper into the
that is the location of a secret door. This door can be debris. It i haky and can be collapsed easily-any force
opened by turning the wheel in the foyer. The wheel applied to the heap by a creature with Strength 15 or
turns only after the lever is pushed up, and then only in higher will bring the rocks down. This rubble can also
one direction. Rotating the wheel opens the secret door, be caused to collapse by hurting a weighty object at it or
but it also opens the floor in front of the wheel to reveal using a spell such as thunderwave to create the needed
a 10-foot-square pit, at the bottom of which can be seen force. Those within 10 feet of the collapse must succeed
a pale shimmer of bones. There is a 1-foot-wide ledge on a DC 10 Dexterity saving throw or take 5 (2d4) blud-
along the west edge of the pit for someone to stand on geoning damage from falling debris.
while working the wheel, and a 6-inch-wide footbridge Climbing elsewhere on the debris causes a minor
of polished marble spans the center of the pit from collapse. dealing 2 (ld4) bludgeoning damage to each
west to east. climber. Each climber must also succeed on a DC 13
Crossing this beam, which is difficult terrain, requires Dexterity saving throw or be buried by the debris, tak-
a DC 10 Dexterity (Acrobatics) check. On a failed check, ing 7 (3d4) more bludgeoning damage. If the saving
the character can't move farther during that turn. If the throw fails by 5 or more, the debris engulfs the digger
check fails by 5 or more, the character falls off the beam completely, and the trapped character can't breathe until
30 feet to the bottom of the pit. dug out. Struggling out on one's own requires a success-
If the crank is released once the secret door is open, ful DC 15 Strength (Athletics) check, and doing so takes
it unwinds quickly, pulling the door shut. To prevent 1 minute. Any of these sorts of collapses open no access
this, the lever can be pulled down to lock the wheel in to the inside.
place- but doing so causes a portcullis to fall across the Fragile Roof. Each time a creature ends its turn on
entrance to the stairs. The portcullis can be lifted by a the portion of the roof that remains standing, there is
character who succeeds on a DC 20 Strength (Athlet- a 20 percent chance that the roof beneath its feet gives
ics) check. way. The creature falls 35 feet, to the rubble below, tak-
Easy Way Out. If the characters search the walls be- ing 14 (4d6) bludgeoning damage.
side the portcullis, a keyhole can be discovered. The key Trapdoor Entrance. If the characters begin their
from room 48 fits the lock, enabling the portcullis to be investigations of the hidden shrine by arriving at the
opened like a gate. temple, they need to find a way in. One route is by way of
Hard Way Out. In the ceiling directly above the pit, a a trapdoor in the floor about 10 feet in front of the altar.
thin slab that looks like ordinary stonework conceals a A character can discover the seam of the door with a
sloping tunnel that leads upward. The slab can't be de- successful DC 15 Wisdom (Perception) check. Any crea-
tected or manipulated from this side. ture that walks across the top of the door has a 1-in-12
chance of triggering it, for the mechanism is old, and
TEMPLE GROUNDS long disuse has made it unreliable. Any skilled charac-
ter's reasonable attempt to keep the door from opening
The inset on map 3.1 depicts what is left of the shrine at
works. Forcing the door to stay open requires a suc-
ground level.
cessful DC 10 Strength (Athletics) check. The trapdoor
54. TEMPLE RUIN opens onto a slide that emerges above the pit in area 53.
Anyone who slides down the tunnel to the hidden hatch
at the other end is dumped into that room.
This was apparently a large temple of some sort. Once Secret Entrance. The second way to enter the tombs
a major building, all that remains are the back wall and below is through a secret door hidden behind the left
enough of the roof to shelter the altar. All else seems wing of the giant bat-thing carved upon the wall. A char-
acter can locate the door with a successful DC 20 Wis-
closed off by fallen debris. Several pillars have fallen and
dom (Perception) check.
they litter the floor. Sunlight filters through holes in the
The door can be opened if a character places a limb
roof, thirty-five feet overhead, which is a maze of chips into the mouth of the carving. If this occurs, the mouth
and cracks. The back wall is covered by a bas-relief of a clamps shut; the teeth puncture the limb, dealing 11
giant bat-thing, nine feet tall, with a wingspan of twenty (2d10) piercing damage; and a giant batwing folds out
feet. In front of this wall is an altar stone, carved to rep- from the wall to reveal the passage. A creature trapped
in the bat's mouth is grappled (escape DC 12) but
resent a mass of squirming rats, weasels, and worms.
doesn't take further damage.
On the front of the altar is the head of a screaming bat.
The mechanical nature of the latch becomes appar-
Jutting above the altar on either side are a pair of sharp- ent to any creature that examines the mouth of the bat
edged, metal bat-wings, eight feet long. The floor in front sculpture and succeeds on a DC 10 Intelligence (Inves-
of the altar is worn smooth. tigation) check. If the check succeeds by 10 or more,
the creature deduces that the function of the mouth can
be activated by placing any object (not necessarily an
Field of Rubble. The temple area is filled with debris extremity) into it. This information can also be obtained
that offers no obvious passage to the interior. In the cen- by a creature that examines the mouth further and then
ter of the south edge is an area where rubble is heaped succeeds on a DC 15 Intelligence (Investigation) check.

CHAPTER 3 I THE HIDDEN SHRINE OF TAMOACHAN
92