Into the Abyss (1)

 In the Death Dells

Level 1

This party was sent on their first group quest to investigate strange phenomena by ancient ruins. When they got there the ruins were empty and nothing seemed amiss. However, when the party entered the final chamber a teleportation circle pulled them all to a vast and empty savannah. The sky looks normal enough but the low hanging, red sun clearly indicates that they're not on the Material Plane anymore and keeps everything swelteringly hot until brief respite during nightfall. Unsure of where they are and wary of the constant hyena laughter the party has been making its way to civilization until they find what looks like a temple to take shelter in....

Gear

    Starting class gear

Plot

    The party has been traveling through the desert savannah for 3 days and they see a temple in the distance that appears abandoned. It is the only structure they’ve seen since they made it here.

    The style of the temple reminds the characters of other ancient desert ones but the painting outside is too vague to know which era or region it's based on. The doorway is very large, and the open antechamber is empty.

    Once the whole party enters the antechamber the stone gate drops and seals them in the temple. If the party wants to escape, they’ll have to go out the back because the door is far too heavy for the party to open.

    When the party begins moving towards the back of the temple, they can hear chuckles of hyenas from inside some of the rooms. A DC 12 Wisdom (Perception) check or a Passive Perception of 12+ can let a player know that there are also gnolls in the rooms but not how many.

    Once the temple has been cleared the temple provides a very good place for them to rest as long as they keep an eye out for pilgrims and roving gnolls. They can even prepare food or boil water in the kitchen and collect their loot.

    When the temple is cleared the players level up to level 2. You can use these characters for other Into the Abyss modules or create new characters.

A1: The antechamber of the temple has a pair of torches each 10-feet from the opening of the hallway. It also has bas reliefs that depict a giant hyena/human hybrid swallowing bones. A DC 15 Intelligence (Religion) check can allow a player to recognize the art as Yeenoghu, the demon lord of slaughter and the gnoll species.

A2: This room serves as the hyena pens.13 hyenas are kept between the back wall and a fence made of bones tied together. They are hostile to non-gnolls that they spot but can’t jump across the fence; their barking can alert the gnolls in the temple if it goes on too long, but feeding them a ration of food or other meat can stop them.

A3: The dining hall of the temple is very sparse considering gnolls are consummate scavengers. The walls are lined with shelves to hold meat the fiends have collected and a cauldron to cook stew in the middle of the room. 2 gnoll warriors are looking away from the doorway and facing by the cauldron while another is stirring. The 2 warriors waiting for food proclaim, “More ingredients!!” in Gnoll and attack in melee. The “chef” uses his bone bow as much as possible.

A4: This torture chamber has more bas reliefs of gnolls pillaging villages across the Material Planes. It is also splattered with blood and is littered with bones and a gnoll warrior laughs while his pet hyena tears into a prisoner shackled to the far wall. They’re both distracted and easy to surprise.

A5: This chamber, scattered with makeshift cots and bedrolls, is the “barracks” of the temple for gnolls and other pilgrims to rest in. At the moment nobody is sleeping but with a DC 14 Intelligence (Investigation) check a player can find 2d6 gold pieces and 1 full waterskin for every member of the party.

A6: The only room with a door is the shrine room to Yeenoghu where his servants gnoll and mortal alike sacrifice treasures and meat to the lord of butchers. The shrine itself is made of a collection of skulls and ribs from huge creatures and forms a semicircle around the unholy symbol of Yeenoghu. Unless he heard something to draw his attention, the chieftain gnoll pack lord and his companion giant hyena are supplicating themselves to their demonic patron. There is a crack in the wall large enough for a medium creature to squeeze through and a hole in the ceiling that provides the room with dim light.

The treasure the pack lord was offering: 1 5-pound gold bar (250 gp), 2 Bloodstones (50 gp each), a carved ivory statuette of Yeenoghu (250 gp), and a periapt of health.