The Mystery Door
GM: "Between trees you spy a large mound of earth 10 feet high and 30 feet in diameter. On the face of the hill you spy a large oak door with rusted iron fittings fastened to moss covered blocks of rock. A sign on the door reads "!:$7.7 388:$3 hshgsg" (in thieves 'cant "Warning! If you want your asses blown out enter the door" (door is locked dc10. door is trapped 2d6 force damage.) GM:"As you swing the heavy door open you see a rickety wooden platform then steps that extends several feet in and then nothing but darkness." Lighting the area inside of the mound or having a dark vision character look... GM:" You now see the inside of the mound a dozen feet above you supported by ancient logs. Roots hang down from the ceiling and insects slink away at your presence. The wooden steps in front of you end abruptly with a steep drop." Approaching or investigating the drop... "you see the drop descends straight down 35 feet or so. Shelves of rock jut out here and there. A skilled climber could make it down". DC 15 athletics or acrobatics. "Reaching the bottom of the shaft you find a long stone hallway with a big open room at the end." Trapped stones on ground perception DC 10 to detect DC 10 to disarm. "Entering the big room the walls are line with magical lanterns that glow soft blue light. It appears to be some kind of house. There are rugs, several bookshelves, a table, chairs, a variety of cooking tools, a martial arts training dummy, and an old harp. You see a steel plate on the table with a tin cover and smell fried pork." Pulling away the tin reveals there is some leftover schnitzel. Investigation reveals a coin purse with 15 gold in a dresser and a diary. The diary is written by a monk who chose a life of seclusion. The diary is mostly recipes and local bird sightings. The last entry however suggests the diary owner was very excited about finding a relic in his wanderings that he called "Fingers of silver" that seemed to have an odd effect on animals when they heard him snap them together. He went out to investigate more and couldn't even finish dinner. Shortly after leaving the D is challenged to a karate fight by shnitzel owner as the shnitzel is now missing and he spied them leaving his hidden home hideout. (Witta Urase: "You there!!You ate my fuckin Schnitzal!") persuade or "Kiyaiiiii" and he snaps his fingers, the party must make a wisdom saving throw dc 12 or drop weapons to attack with fists. Martial Arts Monster stat block. Reward for defeating or persuading monk from fighting: "Fingers of Silver", equip-able silver thimbles. Snap once per long rest and all enemies within 30 ft make WIS saving throw or drop held weapons and next action must be attempt to unarmed strike whoever made the snap. The Fingers have 2 of 4 charges left and a magical item must be sacrificed to recharge them or they can be recharged at a temple for a large gold offering.
The Abandoned Temple
GM: "As you approach the location marked out on your map you indeed see cliffside ruins of what looks like a long forgotten old greek temple. You hear the distant vibrant blue waves crash on the coastline and feel a cool saltwater ocean breeze. Large sun bleached white columns lay scattered about the ruins. The once ornate mosaic floor of the temple now is mostly a cracked patchwork of broken marble separated by tall grass and dirt, the occasional flec of color doesn’t hint at what grand design may have once rested there. You see an overgrown old stone path leads to the cliffside.” Following said path… GM:”Nearing the edge of the cliff you see the path trails down the side of a cliff to a small beach, appear protected from the waves by a barrier reef. When the waves hit the reef they shoot straight up in the air blasting sea foam and creating a calm area of water and smaller waves towards the beach. You are roughly 60 feet from cliff edge to beach. The steps look crumbling and ancient, a risky to walk on.” DC 8 to safely descend. Once on beach. GM:”as you descended and now especially from this perspective you can see a stone door in a small cave on the cliffside, previously obscured by a rock overhang. A series of 1 foot diameter circular pillars roughly 6 feet apart extend from under the water, all the way up to the cave entrance. Each appears painted a perfect blue to match the water and blend in from the cliffside perspective.” DC 18 acrobatics to scale the pillars as they are narrow, spread far apart, and slippery from sea spray. Reaching the cave… GM:”As you reach the cave the echoing sound of distant waves hitting the reef is amplified by the walls of the cave and each crash shakes your core making you feel small. The cool cave feels refreshing and smells like ocean. The door is slightly ajar. It has a carved two headed, four armed woman on it. She is holding a giant heart. It appears the door at one point may have been inlaid with various jewels, long picked away by thieves.” DC 10 religion reveals this may have been a temple to along forgotten Goddess, Goddess of Heart Ancy Wilson. DC 5 strength to pull open enough to get inside. GM:”As you open the stone door ambient light from outside hits polished mirrored walls and the room illuminates with a the soft red glow of the light hitting warm red clay walls. The room is a large rectangle roughly 30 foot long by 20 feet wide and 12 feet high. The room appears to have been ransacked of anything of value. You see a single waist height pillar in the center of the room, a chandler hanging from the ceiling under a seal image of a sun and clouds, and a couple of statues of chubby cherubs with theirs mouths open and tongues out on either side of the room, an odd old looking hammer is on the floor near the pillar and a long white rope clumped in the corner of the room. You see a large statue in the room center that appears modeled after the image on the door. One of the goddesses neck’s appears to have a gold choker on it that twinkles in the reddish light.” investigation shows it looks like someone successfully pried the necklace off the other head’s neck but gave up on this one. DC 30 strength of sleight of hand to pry it off. DC 20 to detect magic trap. Trapped to shock anyone who touches it 1d4 shock. Examining the pillar. GM:”There is a placard on the top of the pillar reading. ‘My Blessings bestowed on those who know the ritual to unlock my heart. A big gig pre-performance ritual with knowledge of the ancients, who knew they needed exposure to extreme elements, purified mind and body, and heavenly Inspirado to achieve greatness.” DC 15 religion or history reveals the cherubs must be set correctly to trigger the favor of the goddess. The old gods used to craft these way shrines for dedicated followers to find and be rewarded if they knew how. By placing the rope between the mouths of the cherubs the rope snaps tight suddenly, a groan is heard and the rope comes out of the cherub’s butt covered in brown. Climbing the chandler and smashing the cloud sun seal with the ancient hammer artifact turns the hammer and seal to dust and glowing yellow light shines down through the skylight, changing the color of the room to soft blue. Exposing the cherubs to both heat and cold is the last piece of the ritual and the statue will release the gold choker “Voice Then Be Gold”. Returning the stolen necklace or solving the ritual puzzle, the party is bestowed with knowledge from the goddess that a curse has been lifted and the dead on the peninsula will rest in peace. XP reward plus “Voice Then Be Gold.” Magical necklace. Any spell with V required can be cast into the choker if the caster chooses. As a bonus action the wearer of the choker may deploy the spell. The spell is held indefinitely but only one spell may be held at a time.