Crimson Monastery

Blood of Vol Temple, within Atur, Population 12,600

The Crimson Monastery, Khorvaire’s largest public shrine to the Blood of Vol, is second only to the frozen island of Farlnen in powerful Vol worshipers. The cult stores much of its offerings and tribute in Crimson Monastery vaults, and many of the Blood of Vol’s private rituals involving living sacrifices, often from specific bloodlines or victims of a particular social station, take place in this location.
The Blood of Vol’s official authority ends at the Monastery’s walls. The city of Atur is part of Karrnath, and King Kaius is no friend of the Blood of Vol. But the cult has infiltrated the city watch and much of Atur’s civic government, so the PCs can never be sure when they’re dealing with a mere worshiper of the Blood of Vol, a loyal member of the cult, or a secret agent whose life is pledged to Vol herself.
Environment: Torches on wall sconces light most rooms within the Crimson Monastery, and candles provide shadowy illumination in the hallways. Because the Blood of Vol uses real torches and bonfires in many of its rituals, a pall of smoke often hangs over the exterior of the monastery, wafting upward through hundreds of small chimneys.
The droning chants of Vol worshipers echo through the corridors; all Listen checks within the monastery incur a –2 penalty due to the background noise.
The entire interior of the Crimson Monastery has a permanent desecrate effect (as the spell on page 218 of the Player’s Handbook; caster level 15th).
Terrain: Within the Crimson Monastery, the floors are made of smooth stone. The walls are reinforced masonry (1 foot thick, hardness 8, 180 hp, Climb DC 15). Ceilings are generally 15 feet high, and most corridors are 10 feet wide.
Most doors that lead to important places are carved from red marble (8 inches thick, hardness 8, 60 hp, break DC 28). The doors have DC 20 locks, but are usually kept unlocked. High priests carry keys for all the doors they ordinarily pass through during their daily duties.
Doors that exist only for privacy, such as those within living quarters, are simply made of wood (1 inch thick, hardness 5, 10 hp, break DC 13). They rarely have locks.

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Features

The Crimson Monastery is several acres on the inside, and even determined adventurers are unlikely to explore the entire building. Few Blood of Vol priests have seen every ritual chamber and shrine within the monastery. A few typical features are listed below, but designing features that meet the specific needs of your adventure will pay big dividends.
Ritual Chamber: The Blood of Vol cultists have scattered dozens of ritual chambers throughout the Crimson Monastery.
A typical chamber is at least 40 feet square. At the center, each chamber is equally likely to have a sacrificial altar or brazier, a sarcophagus or embalming table, or a summoning circle (an inlaid magic circle spell). There’s enough room around the perimeter of the central object for dozens of cultists to dance, chant, and pray. Ritual chambers always have an undead guardian of some sort (often a mummy or wraith) and the art objects and magic items of a 5th-level treasure.
Shrine: Chapels and altars devoted to Vol herself are connected by a network of wide passageways and stairs; the crowds of ordinary worshipers mostly move from shrine to shrine, staying out of side corridors. Blood of Vol priests have cast both unhallow and desecrate on the shrine areas. Each has seating for 50 to 200 people. A given shrine is vacant 75% of the time during the day and 25% of the time at night. When occupied, the shrine has a priest (typically a 5th-level cleric, but sometimes a more powerful one) and 2d6×10 non- combatant worshipers. Treat the worshipers as crowds, described on page 100 of the Dungeon Master’s Guide. Half the time there’s a monster of some kind present as well; roll randomly on the table below.
Treasure Vault: These 20-foot-square rooms fill the underground levels of the Crimson Monastery. Each has a hallway guarded by living guards (typically 1d4+2 1st- or 2nd-level clerics), then a locked door with a CR 6 trap, then a wight, mummy, wraith, or spectre within the vault itself. A typical treasure vault has 1d4 6th-level treasures within it. Some treasure vaults have greater wealth within them—and more powerful guardians to match.
Detention Cell: Near the top of the Crimson Monastery are detention cells that hold mostly victims for future sacrifices, but also some prisoners the Blood of Vol doesn’t want to kill or set free. Each cell has a stone door with a shuttered slot for food and water, a lock to pick (Open Lock DC 25), and a glyph of warding spell that triggers when the door is destroyed or opened without using the key to unlock it first.
At any given time, about half the cells have occupants. Most prisoners are 1st-level commoners, but one-fifth are higher-level NPCs who crossed the Blood of Vol and wound up here. Unless the Blood of Vol has some special purpose in mind for them, prisoners stay here for 2d4 days before they’re ritually sacrificed. A few of the prisoners are later reanimated as undead; even death doesn’t allow them to escape the Crimson Monastery.
Ossuary of Malevanor: In the heart of the Crimson Monastery is an immense necromantic laboratory where the high priest Malevanor spends almost all his time. Corpses—some animate, some not—lie on tables and biers throughout the cavernous room. Channels carved into the floor hold a steady stream of blood that drains into catch basins at the room’s edge. Unless he’s leading a worship service, Malevanor (described above) is here as well, creating more undead minions for the Blood of Vol.
On a central table sits a bipedal figure covered in scraps of parchment. This is a grisgol Malevanor is making on Vol’s behalf. Once the Blood of Vol acquires a lich’s phylactery, this grisgol will be complete.

This pyramidal building made of bloodred brick and ebon-black mortar seems to faintly glow within Atur’s twilight. The smell of incense is almost overpowering, and you can hear the low, droning chants of the Vol worshipers within. Red-robed guards—some living, some not—stand at attention to either side of the main entrance, and wild-eyed priests beckon passersby to enter and take part in the evening’s rituals.

Encounters

Whether the PCs are sneaking or fighting their way through the Crimson Monastery, they’ll face a mix of cultists, undead servitors, and darker horrors. Pay close attention to pacing while the PCs are within the monastery; it’s easy to run so many encounters in quick succession that they have no resources left to accomplish their mission. Because the monastery is so vast, battered and wounded PCs might be able to find a hidden place to rest even as the cultists search for intruders. There is a 15% chance of an encounter in the monastery every 30 minutes.

Development

The cultists within the Crimson Monastery are slow to organize a response to intruders, but once they do, it’s often overwhelming. Faced with intruders, the nearby denizens of the monastery organize a defense locally while one of their number goes to find Malevanor. The rest of the monastery is likely unaware of the intrusion.
Once Malevanor knows about intruders, he puts the entire monastery on alert, sends waves of cultists to the last known location of the intruders, and organizes search parties to check every chamber within the monastery.

Adaptation

Other Blood of Vol temples across Khorvaire have similar denizens and features; they’re simply less massive. Those beyond Karrnath’s borders are probably entirely underground or otherwise hidden from the eyes of nonbelievers.

Type

Cathedral / Great temple