The Hidden Shrine of Tamoachan
As you head toward the pyramid temple, you tread across cracked and overgrown flagstones, stepping over fallen and shattered pillars, pushing aside vines and briars.
When you are nearly at the temple, the sound of creatures crashing through the underbrush comes from behind you. You turn around to see people moving through the woods toward the clearing around the pyramid.
Then, suddenly, the earth shudders and gapes open beneath your feet and you are falling amid the roar of collapsing masonry. Dust fills the air and the sunlight disappears as the darkness swallows you.
The Ruins: General Features
The walls inside the ruins are constructed of blocks of unmortared stone covered by stucco. The ceilings are of the same material, supported by corbel arches.Ceilings
Most of the hallways have 20-foot ceilings. Some rooms have ceilings of 20 to 40 feet in height.Doors
Doors are made of beaten bronze or slabs of stone. While heavy, they can be opened without a check.Unsafe Stonework
In some places, the corbel arches that hold up the ceiling aren’t structurally sound. As a result, some spells might have disastrous effects. A spell like fireball (an explosion) or thunderwave (an area of thunder damage) has a 25 percent chance to cause a ceiling collapse within the spell’s area, dealing 16 (3d10) bludgeoning damage to creatures in the area. This collapse might block or bury objects or exits.Poisonous Gas
The lower levels of the ruins, including the rooms and passages of encounter areas 1 through 38, are filled with poisonous gas. The gas is an amber color, and its area is lightly obscured. Anyone can tell that the gas is irritating, but it takes a successful DC 15 Intelligence (Nature) check to discern the gas’s toxicity. Flames in the gas sputter and glow redly, and any attempt to use natural means to ignite a fire has only a 50 percent chance of success. Fire used as a light source has an effective radius only half normal. A creature takes 3 ( 1d6 ) poison damage every hour it spends in the gas. The gas is light, so it accumulates closer to the ceiling. Inhabitants of the dungeon have immunity to the poisonous effect of the gas. The gas rises up and out of the ruins if the doors to area 39 are opened. It takes one month for the lower levels to clear completely. If the doors are closed again, the lower chambers refill with gas in two weeks.Dried Potions
In some locations, characters discover the remains of a potion in the form of sediment in the bottom of a container. It is possible to mix this powder with water or wine and restore the potion. Wine creates a potion with full effect, but water shortens the potion’s duration (if it has one) by half. If the powder is consumed by itself, there is a 1 in 8 chance that it acts as a potion of poison; otherwise, the powder has no effect.Pressure Plates
Several areas have traps that are triggered by the operation of a pressure plate, which depresses when a certain amount of weight is put on it. A character who succeeds on a DC 20 Wisdom (Perception) check can find a pressure plate. The plate can be blocked, preventing the trap from triggering, by wedging it in the upper position with pitons or similarly strong shims. Doing so takes one character at least 5 minutes, and the character must make a DC 15 Dexterity check using thieves’ tools. If the check fails by 4 or less, the character knows the shims aren’t properly placed. If the check fails by 5 or more, the character doesn’t realize the shims will fail to hold up the plate.Maps
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Hidden Shrine of Tamoachan
Type
Ruins
Parent Location
Owning Organization
Characters in Location
Related Report (Primary Locations)
Related Plots
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