As you descend the stairs, you are greeted by the gradually increasing sound of falling water. You enter a wide hallway, somewhere near twenty feet in length. Two small waterfalls, one to your right and the other at your left, empty into streams of water that flow along the length of the hallway next to the stone floor, nearly at a level with it.
At the far end of the hall is a white coral door, inlaid with turquoise coral. The inlay paints a flowing figure of a vaguely humanoid form made of water. In front of the door lie three skeletons in turquoise robes.
The walls bordering either side of the hallway are painted with elaborate images of the sea, fish, and shells. However, it seems that someone has afterward added hasty splotches of black and gray paint, rough outlines of flame, and a giant figure made of fire walking across the bottom of the sea. This fire figure appears to leave nothing but death and destruction in its wake.
The skeletons in turquoise robes near the far door were once the three high priests of this monastery. Each of them wears a polished white-and-turquoise coral ring worth 10gp and one wears a silver chain with a turquoise coral figurine of the vaguely-human water being on it. This necklace is worth 50gp. All of these items can be noticed with a DC 12 Perception skill check (passive or active).
Experience Point Possibilites
What has happened at the Monastery?
Fortunebound Campaign Setting
In the campaign setting of Fortunebound, many of the Seakin revere a primal creative force of nature called the World Mother. She is water, and both mated with and opposed by the primal creative force of fire called the World Father. Because both are powerful, primal forces, they are beyond the capacity of mortals to understand. However, that does not stop mortals from trying.
Knowing that those who try to communicate with the World Mother are often driven insane by her presence in their mind, a sect of Seakin World Mother worshippers decided to isolate themselves in a desert, believing that her power would be lesser in such a place and that they may be able to successfully communicate with her without being driven mad. They were wrong.
The sect did, indeed, manage to communicate with the World Mother. But they were unable to maintain their sanity as the impressions of her being flooded their minds. The things she showed them drove them mad and led to a mass suicide. The paintings on the wall were an attempt to warn future visitors of the potentially destructive nature of the World Father, which consumed the thoughts of the Seakin near their end.
Your Own Campaign Setting
If you are running this scenario within your own campaign setting, the story of the monastery should focus on a water-friendly species (such as Sea Elves) and their dedication to some religious or supernatural principle, god, or goddess associated with water.
The reason for the monastery to exist in the desert may be similar to the reason given in the Fortunebound Campaign Setting, or it may have been an effort by the sect to bring water and life into desolate places.
The residents of the monastery may have purposely committed ritual suicide, or perhaps they mistakenly ingested badly contaminated water or food infected with a deadly mold.
In a case where the game is set in your own campaign setting, the possibilities are endless and entirely your own.
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