Chapel of St. Jorb

”Ruined chapel, once a popular destination for pilgrimages, now rather dangerous”

The Ruined Chapel of St. Jorb is located just within the Wilderland Hills on a hilltop surrounded by ancient forestation. A single cart track once led here, but it is now overgrown with brush and recent tree growth, and cannot be found other than by an experienced woodsman or ranger. The general location of the chapel can be found in records of the Church of Mithras, and nearby villages can also direct travelers toward the site.

Since the time of St. Jorb, the chapel served not only as a religious site but also as a minor fortress defending against incursions from the hill clans and humanoids of the area. Volunteer soldiers of Mithras garrisoned the fortified chapel and mounted retaliatory raids against any reavers and brigands who attacked southward into the Province.

After St. Jorb’s death, the chapel became a popular destination for pilgrimages, drawing Mithraic followers from as far away as Keston Province. Although Jorb’s mace had been moved to Kingston as a holy relic, the statue of Mithras where Jorb prayed is considered a place of miracles. As with most temples of Mithras, the statue is found in a sanctified underground chamber. Unfortunately, during the Wilderlands Clan Wars ten years ago, the chapel was overwhelmed by a force of hill giants and ogres making their way toward the western reaches of the hills and into Keston. As mountain gargoyles plunged and swooped over the chapel, forcing the garrison to defend itself, the ground troops of the attackers lumbered from the tree line to reach the chapel, and slew the rest of the defenders in a desperate battle at the doors of the sanctum. In a wild celebration of their victory that lasted for days, the hill giants smashed down the outer wall of the fortification and reduced the sanctum to a pile of broken rock. Eventually the gargoyles brought their forces under control, and the horde moved on, leaving a desolated ruin in their wake.

A few pilgrims still occasionally make their way to the ruined chapel, where they have buried the dead and cleared away the entrance to the sanctified underground chamber where the statue still stands undamaged. In the last five years as the garrisons of Exeter Province retreated from the forts located in the hills themselves, pilgrimages have become more dangerous and less frequent. Not all such travelers have returned.

Current Situation

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The buildings and walls of the chapel complex now lie completely in ruins, with grasses and sapling trees growing where the battle-chaplains and temple clerics of Mithras once walked. The place is now occupied by a gang of minotaurs who sleep in the chamber under the ruined sanctum, where the statue stands.

Chamber of the Statue

A rectangular hole in the floor of the ruined chapel building reveals a flight of stone stairs leading down into the darkness. After making due preparations, you proceed down in your chosen marching order. At the bottom of the stairs, sixty feet below the surface, the stairway enters into a circular chamber eighty feet in diameter, with a domed ceiling that rises to a height of twenty feet at the apex. A marble statue stands against the northern wall across the chamber from you. It depicts a man holding the head of a bull in one hand and a sword in the other. In front of the statue there is wide bronze bowl four feet in diameter, and a large number of human skulls are arranged to either side of it.
Before the characters can investigate the room any further, they have to deal with the 5 minotaurs that live here. One of them is always keeping an eye on the stairs, for this is a region where anything might come wandering around to investigate caves and other possible lairs.
Once the minotaurs are dealt with, the characters can take a closer look at the temple. The minotaurs have left a quantity of filth and garbage scattered around, but they have not approached the statue or the skulls arrayed to either side of it. There are 25 skulls on each side of the statue, arranged in neat rows. These are the remains of the chapel’s defenders, who died defending the sanctum. Earlier pilgrims placed them here as a memorial to their valorous martyrdom, always to reside with the god.

The Statue of Mithras

The statue does not convey any benefits or have any unusual qualities that would affect a group of adventurers. Anyone touching it experiences a rush of bravery and elation, but the feeling fades quickly and has no measurable effect other than to make clear that the statue is still a powerful relic of Mithras.
If, however, the characters are here with a major request (such as obtaining atonement for the heretic community of Whitsun Measow ), the statue communicates with them through the voice and intercession of St. Jorb. They receive a sudden vision of many of the god’s memories: vast Hyperborean armies on the march, sacrifices of bulls in underground temples such as this one, and high priests in battle armor standing before fields of slaughter. When the images fade, St. Jorb speaks through the mouth of the statue, and discusses what the characters want to achieve. Again, in order for the characters to gain this audience with the saint, their request must be selfless and fairly epic.
In the particular case of the Whitsun Measow heretics, which is the most likely reason for the characters to be here, the saint is willing to grant atonement to each heretic who touches the statue and recants all heresy. However, the boon is not granted without a price. Depending on the situation, the saint might ask either of the following tasks to be undertaken, or any other that might make sense:
1. The heretics must remain here, rebuild the chapel, and maintain the place as a site of pilgrimage. Since this would likely end in their slaughter at the hands of the beasts living in the Wilderland Hills, the rebuilt religious site would need one of Mithras’ battle-chaplains to be stationed here as the new spiritual leader and defender of the reclaimed heretics. The characters would be charged with the task of going to Albor Broce to find such a cleric, and might end up needing to go all the way to Kingston if the Lord-Governor of Exeter refuses to grant permission for one of his own battle-chaplains to leave.
2. If one of the characters is a cleric of Mithras, the saint might actually grant the ruined chapel to the character as a personal stronghold to be held in the god’s name. There would be no requirement that the heretics stay, but if a cleric is to establish a stronghold, it would make sense to invite the reformed heretics to stay at the stronghold as tenant farmers or herders.

Ruins

Chapel of St. Jorb

Pronunciation

JORB

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Owning Organization

Exeter Province