The Sea Temple, revisited

Dungeon Crawler:

Location: [2] Transitional area - this is simply a threshold…

Encounter: [4] Hostile Enemies - transformed guardians of the Temple

Objects: [2] Nothing, or mundane objects - no items, but curious architecture

Exits: [4] 1 additional exit

—

Morgause steps forward, wading through the rushing water that chases her through the threshold.

The air is thick and stale, the chamber beyond clearly having been sealed for some time - at least where the doors behind her are concerned. Morgause knows the location of half a dozen hidden temples and shrines in the wilds around Corringate, but never heard a whisper of this one - aside from the possible location of the Sea Shroud.

She supposes that, if nothing else, confirms that the gem serves its purpose - keeping secrets.

The Temple is partially submerged, and lit by creeping, glowing algae on the walls and the surface of the water. She spies darker patches of water, and avoids them, sticking to the shallows, which cover a narrow walk-way of stone.

Across the way is another altar, this one bare and unadorned, but the walls all around are etched with ancient reliefs, depicting mortal folk and what can only be emissaries or avatars of the Deep Ones.

She has always had an open mind when it comes to the strange and sometimes unnerving Gods of the mortal world, and the rituals and practises of their worshippers. She can hardly judge: there are those who would find her Witch’s lifestyle as bizarre as the rest of them.

But the Deep Ones have always been a source of fear and foreboding. Impossibly ancient, entities beyond comprehension, slumbering in the depths of the world. The very thought makes her falter.

The walls are decorated in their worship: Humans and Elves are shown making dark bargains with creatures that defy description, or engaging in congress with hideous beasts, with tentacled limbs and scaly hides. The rippling effect of the water, projected onto the walls makes it seem almost as though the images are moving.

This is the source of all the strangeness in Whaler’s Cove. Which means somewhere in here is someone - or more likely, something - responsible for the kidnappings, the mutations: all of it.

She only hopes she doesn’t have to find it, to find the gem.

As if on cue, a bubbling emanates from the darker swathes of water, heralding the arrival of a pair of lanky, scaled figures. They burst from the surface, mere feet away from Morgause, advancing on her with bulging eyes and snapping jaws.