Unknown Shrine

The Unknown Shrine was the name given to a ruined structure in the Eastern Plains of Cormyr.

Location
The Unknown Shrine stood atop a steep-sided hill situated some 10 miles (16 kilometers) east of the city of Wheloon and a few miles to the north of the Way of the Manticore. It was visible from the road on a clear day, so local folk and travelers knew it as a landmark on the way to Wheloon.

Description
Built all of white marble, it consisted of a thick circular wall approximately 60 feet (18 meters) in diameter, broken in places amidst piles of rubble, but with two apparent passages built through. Within were arrays of columns, up to 20 feet tall (6 meters); some remaining standing, but others had fallen or were broken. There was a ring of eight sturdy columns, 5 feet (1.5 meters) thick. Interspersed among these were a number of slender columns, only 1.5 feet (0.45 meters) thick, which could be pushed or pulled by a strong arm or beast.

The structure appeared to have never had a roof, and the floor was flagged with white stone slabs. At the center was a low dais. Sunlight gleamed off the white stone on a clear day, and it must have appeared quite proud when it was whole. Instead, it appeared as a cluster of broken pillars and broken walls.

No other ruins or even foundations for other structures could be found in the vicinity.

Rumors
Most people who set foot inside the ruins felt a sense of humility, and a quietness hung about the place, so it was commonly thought to have been a shrine.

History
The structure was marked as the "Unknown Shrine" on maps of Cormyr by the mid–14th century DR.

It was one of the stops on the route taken by petitioners of the Temple of Mystra in Wheloon in the Year of Lightning Storms, 1374 DR, on their way to the Vast Swamp. In early Eleint, two smugglers named Norry Waywocket and Coobert Draftworth camped at the Unknown Shrine when they couldn't access their stash at the Tomb of Chonis. They may have been encountered there by adventurers in service to Mystra investigating activities at the temple, and questioned about the petitioners.