The Temple of Set was an underground ruin beneath the Oasis of the White Palm. At the time of Khalitharius' release in 1356 DR, it was in use both by the dervish cultists and the slavers of the oasis, though neither was aware of the other.[1]
The Legend[]
This ancient temple was already ancient in Martek's time.[1] Per Roland the Minstrel, however, Martek had still been the one to build it, long before it had been used as a temple of Set.[2] After sealing Khalitharius, Martek used the temple to hold one Star Gem. In the temple of Set, he wrote the instructions on how to use the Amulet and the Mark on the bride of the sheik's son to find the city of Phoenix.[1]
Access[]
The Temple could be accessed either from the secret door on the north side of the Monolith in the Oasis, or from hidden trapdoors excavated by the slavers from the Sandvoyagers' Guild.[1] Both led to different locations in the underground complex.
Areas in Use by the Dervish Cult[]
The dervish cultists worshiped from midnight to 3 AM, entering through the hidden door on the monolith. The lower level had many of the cult's minions patrolling it, including zombies, dervish cultists, giant spiders, giant poisonous snakes and mummies. It was accessible after a 70 foot descent, leading to a 30-foot corridor, where an inch-thick stone door blocked passage. The stone door was carved with the figure of a man with a jackal's head, and glowing, red eyes. A zombie behind the door would only open the door to those who called out "Open in the Name of the Great One", by turning a wheel.[1] Outside of the time from midnight to 3 AM, this zombie instead waited in a cavern off by the side.[3]
Beyond the door lay a room with three pools of fragrant liquid, for use in purification rites, but with no tangible effect; the walls were covered in designs of horrible creatures going to war. The rest of the compound was behind a door, protected by three glyphs of warding: the floor glyph would cause blindness, and the wall glyphs caused fire damage. Bypassing each glyph required a different password.[3] Beyond that door, there was a large room, with a 50-foot ceiling, two rows of pillars covered in chaotic designs, and a huge stone idol of a man with the sneering head of a jackal at the north end. Before the idol, there was a 10-foot pit, which pulsated with red light.[3] Between midnight and 3 AM, all 13 cultists, including Corga Kazan and Prince Korus, worshiped in this room.[3]
The pit itself seemed bottomless, but it was only 100 feet deep; skeletons at the bottom of it had gemstones worth about 30 pounds of gold.[3] The statue had two glowing eyes, which were trapped; anyone who attempted to pry off an eye would find themselves under attack by the suddenly animated 10-foot arms of the statue, which attacked with amazing strength and power. Even if defeated, once removed the eyes would begin to heat up to the point they became deadly to be around; unless struck with ice storm or a cone of cold, they would self-destruct. Should one manage to successfully remove these gems, their worth was measured close to 1000 pounds of gold.[note 1]
A few rooms were reachable from the worship room. The acolytes' quarters on the southwestern corner had a small secret door concealing four small chests: they were made of obsidian, lead, gold and silver. The gold and silver chests contained incense of obsession, the lead one contained incense of meditation, and the obsidian box, trapped with a password-protected glyph of warding set to cause lightning damage, contained a phylactery of monstrous attention and a periapt of foul rotting.[3] The Priest's Purification chamber held three basins: one of them had a clear liquid, unholy water, the second basin held a dull red, bubbling and steaming ichor that dealt damage to any nonevil creature, doubly so if they were good, and the third basin held a burning amber liquid that was entirely illusory. A secret door lay on the north wall.[3]
North of the priest's purification chamber, there was a trap: a cross-shaped hall with branching corridors. Anyone trying to open the western or eastern doors activated a tilting floor, which dropped them into a chute leading ultimately to the pit before the idol in an earlier room. Opening the north door, on the other hand, caused mist to pour out and fill the room, while a wight emerged to attack the people caught in the room.[4] Beyond that door lay Corga's personal sanctum; he kept the skull of Garath there.[4]
A southeastern passage from the worship room led to the highest concentration of evil in the temple, sufficient to damage anyone who wasn't evilly aligned. The hallway was crisscrossed with darkness, and a chill in there seemed to carry into the very bones of people there. Four rooms branched off; one of them had a burning, violet brazier and three skeletons ready to attack anyone who touched them. One of the skeletons had armbands worth about five pounds of gold each, and wore a necklace of strangulation. Another room held a golden idol with a curse; anyone who took the idol would have extreme difficulty landing a blow, or avoiding any kind of damage. If the curse was lifted, the idol would reveal itself to be lead. The third room held Barus Broadblade, leader of the slavers' guards, whom the dervishes were torturing, believing him to know where the princess was held. Just out of reach of him, lay a small banquet, and a never-ending stream of wine.[3] A last room held a platinum idol, impossibleto remove from the wall, with two glowing eyes; pressing one eye could turn the person pressing it into a monkey, while pressing the other eye opened a hidden door. As of 1356 DR, there were only three charges left in the transforming eye.[4]
The hidden door behind the platinum idol led to the unexplored areas of the temple.[4]
Areas in Use by the Slaver Ring[]
The slaver ring's easiest most used entrance led directly to a dimly lit hall labeled "recreation room" by the slavers. It had a grate that would lead to a prison, which was staffed by a single bugbear; the only prisoner was Tolnus Granicus. The bugbear could call for help from two slavers, Abu Karesan and Kaedros, who stayed on their quarters to the south of the room; they had, amongst their possessions, 120 pounds of electrum, 220 pounds of gold, and 15 pounds of platinum. However, his call for help would also eventually be heeded by Kalitrates, a drow warrior allied with the slavers.[5]
North of the Recreation Room, an eastwards long hallway was protected by a magic mouth triggered by crossing without speaking Selamat, the password. The magic mouth would alert everyone in the compound, screaming "Help Help Intruding Infidel Dogs Help Help Tourists Tourists". The hallway was flanked on the north by a magician's study; the magician was not present at the moment, but had left amongst his books a scroll of 3 spells, and a crystal ball prop. On the southern door, the drow warrior Kalitrates usually stood guard, if he had not been summoned to the aid of the prison guard yet.[6] Beyond Kalitrates' guard post, the drow priestess Zomara had made her quarters; she had a weighted net trap atop the hallway, and eight spiders ready to attack those caught under her net. Rather than put her wealth in her chests, Zomara put it in the pillows; she had ten gems worth each five pounds of gold, five gems worth 10 pounds of gold, and one gem worth 500 pounds of gold.[5]
Beyond the drows' quarters there was a storeroom with three bugbears, watching over the seven goblins that were excavating in search of more ruins just further ahead. These goblins stayed at a room with a door that led into an unexplored area of the ruin.[6]
Undiscovered Areas[]
Both the platinum idol secret door from the areas in use by the dervishes and the door from the goblins' room in the areas in use by the slavers opened into the same hallway.[7] That hallways held three more doors beyond those. The eastmost door led to a tapestry room with nothing of note.[6] The westmost door led first to a room with two giant spiders and an inscription hidden by their spiderwebs: it read "Beware ye the wrath of Set and his minions, for before you lies the gate to this Kingdom of Evil, and those who make the journey never return". Crossing that room led to a room with a steel door, with the head of a jackal molded in its center. A small keyhole was visible on the back of the mouth; anyone who attempted to pick the lock would find the jaws animating and biting them. It was triple locked; it took three attempts to completely pick the lock.[8]
Beyond the lock, there was a huge chamber with a 10-foot diameter pit, which also glowed with a pulsating red light. A jackal-headed idol sat ahead of it, holding a large altar bowl which gave off smoke. Along the walls, there were inscriptions; they read "Beware ye the Eyes of Set, for they are all-seeing and all-knowing. He casts his gaze upon thee and knows thee, and knowing thee does see to his minions." The idol was intelligent, and its eyes were as a gem of true seeing. As soon as anyone had walked halfway through the room, it would cause the door to close itself shut, and then summon one monster per every person in the party. In order, it would summon a zombie, a ghoul, a ghast, a shadow, a necrophidius, a wight, a smoke mephit, and a shadow fiend. The monsters would try to push the party into the hole; anyone falling the full 100 feet into the hole would go through a one-way gate to Pandemonium. The gems could be removed; they were worth about 1000 pounds of gold each, and removing them ended the monsters' assault. They could also be destroyed, but this reduced their value.[8]
A secret door next to the entrance to the tapestry room led to a trapped staircase. The staircase was a 90 feet long affair, with a trap in the middle that made it fold itself in, dropping anyone passing by 50 feet, and venting toxic gasses from the hole; these gases would take up to 10 minutes to dissipate. Those who fell into the hole were attacked by 20 skeletons armed with spears; the sand at the bottom acted like a sinkhole.[6] Beyond that staircase lay a library: its walls were lined with shelves, full of old bone scroll cases. A large pile of ash lay in the center of the room, while soot covered the walls and ceiling.
The one scroll case of importance was in the pile of ash, alongside the Star of Khan-Pelar; it was labeled "Property of the good mage Martek, do not open. Most secure". The scroll inside was a map dating from Martek's time; with some locations now in ruins. It showed the northern half of the Desert of Desolation, including Medinat Muskawoon. It was actually part of the same as Aman Al-Raqib's map. On the back of the map, there was an inscription reading:[6]
"In Phoenix did I, Martek, Archmage of the Land, seal up a prince of the Djinn, that in the days ahead which I do foresee, when the Evil One is loosed, the powers of good might be put to the test against the evil. The path and the way have I entrusted to the Pharaohs and their wives, that each may hold a part of the key and together know when to unlock the power of this goodly Djinn. The time is yet unknown, but the place is this place of Set under the protecting Phoenix."[6]
Appendix[]
Appareances[]
- Adventures
- Desert of Desolation
Notes[]
- ↑ These gems were worth 10000 gp each. However, Desert of Desolation was a 1st edition adventure, in which a pound of gold was worth 10 gold pieces, in comparison to 50 gold pieces in 3rd edition. For better convertibility, the values are shown here in weight of gold rather than number of gold pieces.
References[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 Tracy Hickman, Laura Hickman, Philip Meyers, Peter Rice, William John Wheeler (May 1987). Desert of Desolation. (TSR, Inc.), p. 74. ISBN 978-0880383974.
- ↑ Tracy Hickman, Laura Hickman, Philip Meyers, Peter Rice, William John Wheeler (May 1987). Desert of Desolation. (TSR, Inc.), p. 66. ISBN 978-0880383974.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 3.6 3.7 Tracy Hickman, Laura Hickman, Philip Meyers, Peter Rice, William John Wheeler (May 1987). Desert of Desolation. (TSR, Inc.), p. 75. ISBN 978-0880383974.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 Tracy Hickman, Laura Hickman, Philip Meyers, Peter Rice, William John Wheeler (May 1987). Desert of Desolation. (TSR, Inc.), p. 76. ISBN 978-0880383974.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 Tracy Hickman, Laura Hickman, Philip Meyers, Peter Rice, William John Wheeler (May 1987). Desert of Desolation. (TSR, Inc.), p. 79. ISBN 978-0880383974.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 6.4 6.5 Tracy Hickman, Laura Hickman, Philip Meyers, Peter Rice, William John Wheeler (May 1987). Desert of Desolation. (TSR, Inc.), p. 78. ISBN 978-0880383974.
- ↑ Tracy Hickman, Laura Hickman, Philip Meyers, Peter Rice, William John Wheeler (May 1987). Desert of Desolation. (TSR, Inc.), p. 134. ISBN 978-0880383974.
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 Tracy Hickman, Laura Hickman, Philip Meyers, Peter Rice, William John Wheeler (May 1987). Desert of Desolation. (TSR, Inc.), p. 77. ISBN 978-0880383974.