Temple of Kharassa
Legends tell of a long forgotten temple in the desert, where kings of old once sat. For aeons the sandy ruin has waited, not a thought given to it. A new rumour has sparked up that the rarest of treasures is held within - dare you brave the sandstone corridors in search of this artifact, and risk unleashing the wrath of the ancient monarchs? Some say to enter the temple requires a certain facet of idiocy, others say an ancient curse will cripple your mind. There is only one way to find out.
Level and Difficulty
The Temple of Kharassa is written for a 3rd level, 4 player party. This adventure can be used as is or modified as you see fit.
Adventure Hooks
The players may have heard rumours of this forgotten treasure in a local tavern, or may have been comissioned by a greedy noble to fetch it for them. There could also be multuiple buyers for this treasure who enter into a bidding war over the party's services in fetching it for them. An unusual hook might be that the players stumble across the temple by chance in a vast desert, either completely at random or through investigating a corpse they find nearby, which contains a map to the location. If you are not sure what to choose, here is a more fleshed out example.
The Sandy Chaps Tavern
The Sandy Chaps Tavern is a fairly quiet place, where desert travellers stop to refresh themselves either just before, or after they plan on travelling through the desert. It is widely known as a hub for information regarding the shifting sands, and as a place where whispers are bought and sold. It is fairly widely known that for the price of one drink, you can find out all the latest rumours that have passed through its doors.
"Approaching the squat building, you can see that it is made of sandstone common to this area, and while the corners of the stone work have been rounded off by the weather, the building is standing as strong as the day it was built generations ago. You see a sign, which has quite literally a rear view of a human figure wearing nothing but a pair of seatless leather trousers and you know you have arrived at The Sandy Chaps, a trading post of information and secrets regarding the desert."
Upon Entering the tavern, the barkeep waves to you and ushers you over, looking like they have something exciting to share with you. When you approach you notice there are no other patrons in the tavern, which even for a place like this is strange.
"Friends, friends, I have a juicy rumour that I think you might like to hear, if you take a seat and buy a drink! Everyone else has gone hunting for it!" Upon buying a drink, the barkeep then introduces themselves as Sylfir. They are an half-elven individual of shorter than average height, with flowing golden hair and friendly chocolate brown eyes. They are clearly an adult, but other than that their age is indistinguishable. "I have, just this day, heard of a long forgotten temple out there in the sands, untouched for centuries containing a rarity of a treasure, the Idol of Kharassa! It is rumoured to be worth a lot of gold, and some people say it even has magical properties! Now myself, I am to old to go off looking for things like this anymore, but you look like the types who could conquer this temple and take its treasures for yourself! I made a map to the temple, from what other travellers told me."
The Temple of Kharassa
Outside the Temple
Upon reaching the site designated on the map, a half-sunken temple comes into view for the players. It is made of the same sandstone as the tavern, although these blocks are visibly older and more weathered.
They quickly spot the entrance, and discover that two huge stone doors which stand in the way. The doors require the players to stand on two seperate pressure plates 20ft apart. This can either be discerned through an Intelligence (Investigation) check, or by describing two slightly raised slabs a short distance in front of the doors and letting the players work it out themselves. If they are taking too long to figure out how to enter, or they roll poorly on their checks, have one of the doors tip over and crash down to let them in.
Inside the Temple
Entrance Room
The first thing the players see as they enter the temple is a fairly large room with empty sconces at 20ft intervals running along the walls. The players follow the entrance hall into an open threshold of the temple foyer, it appears to be 100 x 100 ft, there are double doors in the center of the other walls, all closed. The phrase "Kharassa's Final Resting Place" is written in Ancient Dwarvish on the floor just inside the entrance. After the players have been in the temple for a short while, or whenever they reach the center of the room, the doors opposite to the entrance fly open, and a band of 6 Skeletons (MM 272) come shambling through! On a succesful DC12 Wisdom (Perception) check, the players hear the skeletons before they crash through. Otherwise, the skeletons get a surprise round on them.
Note: Those who speak Dwarvish can understand Ancient Dwarvish if they hear or read it. They cannot, however, speak or write Ancient Dwarvish themselves.
Entrance Room(Cont.)
After the players deal with the skeletons, which should be an easy fight, they find that one of them still had an ancient coin purse on it with 4pp.
If they explore where the skeletons come from they find a small prison complex of four cells down a short hallway, the hallway itself has collapsed with sand blocking the way preventing further exploration. if they search the cells they find broken manacles in each, and 20sp in one of them. It appears that this is where the skeletons came from
The Tunnels
When the players search the doors to either side of the room, neither one is locked and they find seemingly identical tunnels which go for 25ft, before turning at a right angle towards the back of the temple. Each tunnel is 5ft wide and has torch sconces every 25ft on the wall.
Left Tunnel
The tunnel towards the left of the entrance doors goes for 30ft after turning before opening up into a rectangular room about 25ft wide. It goes about 50ft back with a tunnel leading out the back of it. On the floor are 30 slabs (5 slabs wide, 6 slabs long) with a different rune made of blue coloured metal inlaid into each. On the wall next to the players, there is a message in the same tongue which reads
"The lines of each are in use now
and count them up you must,
The strange may pass with safety sure,
The sane are doomed to dust"
This refers to the number of lines in each symbol - strange refers to odd numbers, and sane to even. There is one safe path of symbols with odd numbers of lines, and the rest of the tiles use symbols with even numbers of lines.
On a succesful DC15 Intelligence (History) Check the players know that it is an ancient version of Dwarvish, and anyone who knows Dwarvish can read it.
If a player stands on a tile with an even number of lines on it, all the even tiles collapse and the player must make a DC12 Dexterity Save. On a success, the player leaps to the nearest odd tile, or either end of the puzzle - whichever is closest. On a failure, the player falls into a 20ft pit with spikes in the bottom, and take 2d6 bludgeoning damage + 1d4 piercing damage from the spikes. This is easy enough to climb out of, especially if the party have a rope to help.
Right Tunnel
The tunnel towards the right of the entrance doors goes straight for 100ft after turning. At the end of the tunnel stands a Skeleton, with its back facing the party. If the players fail a DC 13 Dexterity (Stealth) check, or they trigger one of the traps, the skeleton notices them. The tunnel itself seems very plain, but upon further inspection the players may find some of the traps in the tunnel. All traps in the tunnel can be found seperately with a succesful DC15 Wisdom (Perception) Check for each.
Credits:
Created by RoseArtemis
Made using Homebrewery
Traps
The traps for the Right Tunnel are eaqully spaced at certain points through the tunnel, at 25ft, 50ft, and 75ft respectively. (1,2,3 in Appendix)
The First Trap is triggered by a tripwire spanning the width of the tunnel. The player must make a DC12 Dexterity Save. On a fail, they get hit by a dart for 1d8 piercing damage.
The Second Trap is triggered by a pressure plate that is slightly raised from the floor. The players must make a DC15 Constitution Save as poison gas fills the corridor. On a fail they take 1d8 poison damage. The gas takes 1 minute to clear.
The Third Trap is triggered by another tripwire similar to the first. The player must make a DC15 Dexterity Save. On a fail spikes shoot out the ceiling and hit them for 1d4 piercing + 1d4 bludgeoning damage. Creatures of size Small or smaller are unaffected by this trap.
The Burial Chamber
After making their way through one of the two tunnels, the players reach the burial chamber! The room is the same size as the entrance room, with the only entrance being the two tunnels after they meet. It is ornately decorated, and there are piles of gold around the outside of the room! In the centre of the chamber there is a raised dias with two sarcophagi on it. Between the two sarcophagi is a podeum, upon which sits a golden idol! This is the Idol of Kharassa.
Upon entering the room, the lids of the sarcophagi slowly start to move, and out of each climbs a Mummy! (MM 227) This will be a rather fight for the party. At Initiative 20 of every other round, the ground shakes and players must succeed on a DC 15 Dexterity save or be knocked prone.
After killing the two Mummies, the players can then take the idol. If the players loot the rest of the chamber before taking the idol, they find 2570gp and 8090sp, and in one of the Sarcophagi is a +1 Shortsword! As they take the idol the ground starts to shake! Pieces of the room start to fall in, and the players need to get out fast! If they take the path they entered through, they should get out just in time!
As they exit the temple they watch as the rest of the walls collapse in, and the entire structure starts to sink into the ground. It will now be forever lost to the shifting sands.
Idol of Kharassa
Magic Item, Wonderous Item, (1000gp)
Upon focusing for one minute the player can summon a Mummy (MM 227) which lasts for 1 hour. The Mummy can then be issued a command with a bonus action. It will follow the command as best it can, until a new command is given. After being used, the item is tarnished.
Handout - Tile Puzzle
