Lost Temple of Asmodeus
An Adventure for 6th Level Characters
Introduction
The people living in the region around the Sword Mountains are afraid. Dozens of people are missing, speculated to be lost to some nefarious purpose. Upon arrival to Westbridge, the party encounters a broken man, a homeless drunkard prone to incessant rambling. This inspires an investigation into the stories of a lost temple. Has it been rediscovered by men seduced by its forgotten evil? The drunkard’s tale leads to others who might help the party discover more before they face the Lost Temple of Asmodeus.Background
Fredu, a farmer who was taking a shortcut from Westbridge to Phandalin through the Kryptgarden Forest, became startled by animal noises. Running through the rocks and trees, exhausted and barely able to see in the dim moonlight, he sought shelter in a cave opening at the edge of the Sword Mountains. Believing he had found a small cave to protect him from becoming dinner for some hungry beast, Fredu began to crawl, making his way to the deepest part of the crevice. There, Fredu discovered that the opening linked to a stone passage. By the light of a flickering torch he fashioned from materials within the temple, he found himself surrounded by horrifying images. The most terrifying was a statue of Asmodeus. Stricken with fear, Fredu ran for his life - and made it back to Westbridge to tell his story. Yet, the humiliation and ridicule of the disbelieving townsfolk drove him to despair and finally to drink. As the months wore on, he sold everything he owned to numb his addled and fear-enslaved mind from relentless reproach and nightmarish memories. Fredu is a drunkard and now recounts his night of terror to all who will listen - with the right enticement. Recently, he has taken to telling a comic variation of his story in trade for drink. Once a productive farmer, he now takes odd jobs and tells his tale in exchange for some shelter, a little food, and copious amounts of booze. This has made him a manipulative and unreliable storyteller prone to fabrication to nurture his habit. Some of Fredu’s listeners entertained their own dark plans.Yarowin's Seduction
One who heard Fredu's tale is Yarowin, a greedy and evil merchant who had been traveling through the region. Yarowin's thoughts became focused on what power he could gain from Asmodeus, and he immediately sought the temple. Since finding the temple, Yarowin has recruited adepts, restored the temple, and began to spread the dark influence of Asmodeus. He plans to use Fredu's rambling to lure adventurers to the temple and sacrifice them to Asmodeus. In his restoration of the temple, Yarowin has found like-minded people to bring the total amount of cultists to thirty. In recent months, there have been disappearances of locals to the region - over a hundred total so far. Some were abductions; some were cultists or those attracted to the dark power. Others simply had mishaps while off the well-traveled roads and were never found. With a significant portion of the region’s population unaccounted for, people are beginning to speculate that Fredu’s impossible tale may have some truth to it. Perhaps he did face the dark lord. Perhaps the door to the temple is truly ajar.The Tale of Fredu
Virtually all of the residents of the village of Westbridge know Fredu (NG male Tethyrian human commoner). When the subject of the disappearances comes up in conversation, most will inevitably mention him and his fantastic tale. Some, such as Ghaliver Longstocking, the baron, will be more direct, and suggest that inquiring parties talk to Fredu, as he has begun to suspect the presence of truth in his tale. Unless he can wheedle an occasional odd job that provides lodging, Fredu usually sleeps (as best he can) under some trees while in the village of Westbridge. If the party were to observe some of his tormented sleep and somehow translate his screams, the words would mostly be an indecipherable jumble, with occasional comprehensible phrases such as “after so long,” “I am awake,” “convert new followers,” “sacrifices to restore,” and “I will give you power.” By day, Fredu is usually found in the local tavern, The Wyvern Comes to Westbridge, trying to tell tales in exchange for drinks. He likes to approach strangers who have not yet grown tired of hearing his tale. Fredu would like to receive four glasses of ale to tell the following story:| “That night. Ya wanna know about that night? Oh, it’s a good tale. I’ll curdle your milk and make you glad you ain’t old Fredu. I’ll gladly tell you my tale for four glasses of ale. Such a small price for such a lamentable tale of woe. And it’s all true. It was maybe three months ago. I was coming from Westbridge; I needed to get my chickens to Phandalin. But I was going to be late, you see. So like an idiot I cut through the Kryptgarden Forest to save time. Now I know better. Everyone always knows better. A mile or so in, I ran into this pack of wolves, all yellow eyes and teeth. I just dropped that sack o’ chickens and the beasties tore into ‘em. But some of the beasties started looking at me like I might be the biggest chicken they had ever seen. So I just took off running. Over rocks, through the bushes, getting all torn up. I ran and ran, and eventually, I realized I was lost with the sun starting to set. Lucky me I think as I found a small cave. It was nearly dark as I slipped into it on my hands and knees, feeling for the back of the cave. After a while, I found some parchment and a little flask of oil and improvised a torch. It took some work, but I was able to light some wood. I managed to keep some of them parchments too. They had some wild writings on them, like nothing I’d ever seen. Anyway, I see the cave gives way to a flat, worked floor. Still covered in rubble, but not natural rock. Like the floor of a castle. Eventually, the rubble became just dust. I must have been two hundred feet from the mouth, and eighty or so feet past where the finished floor began when I figured I was in some kind of underground tomb. And I think maybe I can liberate some dead guy of a gold ring or something. What would he need with it? He’s dead! The tunnel was really carved near the floor on each wall. Detailed work, like dwarves or something. As I went through that tomb, I saw things on some of the walls that were horrible, which really made me shake. But I just kept thinking: tombs got gold, so much easier to get than from selling chickens. So I went deeper. Finally, I see this statue. And I start hearing something, buzzing, whispering in the back of my head. And I realize this ain’t no tomb, it's some sort of temple. The sort that’s the worst kind of evil. I felt... no, I knew that terrible things had been done in that place. Crimes against nature. Sacrifices... Heard a man say once to be wary of looking into the abyss, because when you do, the abyss looks into you too. He was right. I turned and ran. I got lost in that temple, trying to find my way out. My torch went out. Crawling on my hands and knees, pleading with Chauntea, any good god, to silence the noises in my head. Finally, I found the way out, through the tunnel and the rubble. By the time I got to the cave mouth, it was daybreak. I headed home. All the way to Westbridge, I walked. After that, the terrible nightmares started. They won’t let me sleep! My family says I’m smashing about in the night, and screaming something terrible that they can’t understand. They think I’ve been possessed by a demon. And they run me right out of the farm! Tell me never to come back. So Fredu’s got no home to go to. I go around, telling my story, trying to find someone who can stop the noises. Almost no one will help. They all laugh at me, say I’m crazy. The first one who really listened to me was Yarowin, a merchant who was passing through town. He said he would help deal with it, but the nightmares and the whispering in my head never stopped. I ain’t seen him for a couple of weeks now. Anyway, the only thing that stops the noises in my head is the drink. So I start drinking, and I ain’t never stopped since. For four glasses, you are getting off easy. Kreil, he gave me a lot of ale and wine for my story! Course he also wanted those parchments in exchange, the ones I kept, cause they had those writings on them. Turns out he was fascinated by the writing, said it could be some sort of secret from the temple. Being a sage, he didn’t pay out the price for my weird little scrap all at once. Still, he helped get my brain nice and quiet. For a while at least. I wish I had more o’ them little scraps for Kreil. He is wise, but values the strangest things. About a month ago, Trystkin gave me all of the ale out of his little flask. He's the blacksmith here in town. Anyway, he looked really bored... until I got to the part about the carved passageways. Then he got really interested. He pulled out a parchment asked me to describe parts of that temple, again and again, asking about doors and carvings and rooms and such. He kept showing me the map he was drawing, asking me to let him know if what he sketched looked right. I don’t know why he was so interested. I don’t think he ever went there. But that flask kept me drunk for a while. |
- Kreil, a sage living in Westbridge, has parchment with some writing on it in a lost language.
- Trystkin drew a map that might be helpful to the party. He is the blacksmith in Westbridge.
Encounters
Four Cultists
After the part has visited with either Kreil or Trystkin, or right before they set out to search for the temple, a band of four overconfident cultist fanatics drunk on power will intercept the party and teach them that they mean business. They will not attempt to ambush the party in the open, and after yelling "for Asmodeus!" they will attack. When two or more of the cultists go down, the remaining cultists will flee or surrender. The party finds four sets of cultist robes and three tourmalines. Any cultists taken captive will brag about their power and upcoming subjugation of the region as they resist interrogation and plot for an opportunity to escape. If they are intimidated to talk, the party can learn the following:- The cult is growing rapidly, and they are adding two members a week.
- They are emboldened by the seething evil coming from the statue in their temple, and ready to expand.
- They expect to extend the range of the statue’s effect to encompass Westbridge and Phandalin by amplifying the effect with a strange sacrifice the specifics of which even they do not know.
Trystkin and his Temple Map
From Fredu’s tale, the party may seek out Trystkin, the blacksmith in Westbridge. During the day, he normally can be found in or near his shop, and at night, he makes his way back to his shop after a couple of glasses at The Wyvern Comes to Westbridge. If the party follows up with him about what Fredu told them, he admits he heard the story and made a map. Trystkin is not inclined to share his map, as he is planning on organizing his own expedition of locals to go into the temple and loot any treasures they may find. This makes the idea of the party exploring the temple before him unattractive. The party might be able to convince Trystkin to share the map by convincing him that they will not carry off all the treasure, offering to give him a share of the treasure, convincing him to sell the map, or intimidating Trystkin to give the map to them. Unless intimidated, Trystkin will not part with the map unless given or promised 600 gp or more.Kriel the Sage and his Translation
Kriel (N male Chondathan human high mage) is a sage who is currently staying in Westbridge at The Happy Halfling. He finds that the quiet village has magnified his productivity, even with the delays of having supplies and information transported from Waterdeep. Kreil is secretive, even a touch paranoid. He traded a few bottles of ale and wine to Fredu for a parchment that had some writing on it. The parchment is very old and hard to read, and only a successful DC 20 Investigation (Intelligence) check will be able to discern what it says. Kriel was able to read the parchment and discovered that it contains the directions for opening a secret door, not some real arcane knowledge. However, Kriel is wise and realizes the party values the parchment, and will extract a good price for it. The party can promise Kriel a share of the treasure equal to 2,000 gp, pay him the 2,000 gp outright, or give all documents, scrolls, and books they found in the temple to Kreil. To help increase their desire and raise their offering, he will reveal to them that the door these instructions opens leads to the temple treasure room, and is the shortest path in the temple to the main altar. Anyone that can understand the parchment can read that the operating of the secret door is quite complicated. There are a total of four hundred tiny controls, each with two positions, leaving over a hundred thousand possible combinations. Thankfully, with the parchment, the party knows the combination.The Temple
There are a few ways that the party can find the temple of Asmodeus, and confront the growing threat to the peaceful farms and fishermen of the region. The temple was initially discovered by Fredu, and his tale led to a map being drawn that leads to the location. Since Fredu’s discovery of the lost temple, Yarowin has been seduced by Asmodues to reawaken the cult. Yarowin has brought the rosters to thirty members, so there is enough foot traffic for the party to find the entrance on a successful DC 10 Wisdom (Survival) check if they do not have a map.Resolution
Conquering the temple and killing the majority of the cultists will destroy the cult. The temple can be resealed with magic that could collapse the entrance, or laborers could be hired to achieve the same result.
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