Roost in the Forgotten Church

Along the peninsula, positioned in a clearing amidst the jungle, stands a lofty structure - isolated, perhaps? Or more durable than a town that once stood beside it, but has since been reclaimed by the land - abandoned by its builders? Perhaps the answers lie inside - and perhaps treasures, abandoned likewise.

Whatever the case, be wary - because it's said in the night that a winged beast - skin of stone, visage of a demon - no normal man may kill patrols the old capstone: who could say what might become of the man who encounters it? 

Suitable for parties of 3rd level. 

Click HERE for a PDF version of this adventure!

Wandering Monsters

When a wandering monster is encountered in the Forgotten Church, 2d6 should be rolled against the following table to determine the monster encountered. 

If the party is within the towers, 3d6 should be rolled instead, keeping the higher two dice to sum the result.

Roll	Result
2-3	2d4 Lizard Men (B38)
4	1d8 Giant Ferrets (B35)
5	1d8 Oil Beetles (B31)
6	1d6 Boar (B32)
7	1d4 Living Statues: Iron (B37)
8	1 Insect Swarm: Crawling (B37)
9	1 Insect Swarm: Flying (B37)
10	2d4 Giant Centipedes (B33)
11+	1d6 Gargoyles (B35)

The Gargoyle King

At the start of the adventure, roll 1d20, having assigned numbers to each of the 16 rooms in the building. If the roll is 1 through 16, the Gargoyle King is at home and roosting in the room indicated by the roll - on a 17 or better, he is in flight about: absent from his cathedral home.

The Gargoyle King is as normal Gargoyle (B35), but is treated as having maximum hit points possible for him (32 hp) and benefits from a +1 bonus to damage on his attack rolls.

Regarding doors:

•		A little keyhole icon means the door is locked.
•		A little "S" through the door means the door is secret.
•		The other icon - which is supposed to look like a muscly arm - indicates the door is stuck and must be forced open.

 

Level 1

Scale: 10 ft

A - Cathedral

To either side, ruined wooden seating sits atop a discolored floor: threads and fibers implying a carpet once lay. To the south, an elevated section with a broken pulpit. Hidden, strewn about the wooden seating can be found 1,000 sp: underneath the pulpit is a secret drawer in which can be found 1,000 gp.

The ceiling is open to the second level.

B - Greeting Hall

Pots, broken, in gray topsoil line the north wall. A mosaic depicting an angel has been defaced by dereliction on the floor. To the south, two wooden benches. Three wild Boar (B32) root around in the folderol.

C - Library

Dusty bookshelves are lined with slowly rotting and faded literature - tome after tome, some still legible, devoted to a forgotten god. Two Boar (B32) have knocked anything waist height or below onto the floor and have been thoughtlessly trampling it.

D - Bloody Hallway

Against the east wall, opposite the door to room C, a stained glass mosaic with gold cames hangs as a painting might. The glass mosaic - undamaged - is worth 1,200 gp. The floor is brown, stained, and might be mistaken for mud: but closer inspection reveals it to be dried blood. Characters stepping into the stippled area at the T-junction may trigger a spear trap: wherein one of several pressure plates cause any character within the 10x10 foot space to be targeted by two-prong spears jutting out of concealed holes in the ceiling. These bidents deal 1d8 with a THAC0 of 18 and reset immediately.

E - Staff's Hall

Straw has been strewn about the floor - votive candle holders affixed to the north wall hang empty. Three Giant Ferrets (B35) have made a nest near the south-east alcove serving as a junction to cells G, H, and I.

F - Treasury

In three corners of the room stand three iron statues; in the center, a fourth. The fourth holds a chest containing 7,000 silver pieces, 800 gold pieces, and a cat's eye gemstone (500 gold pieces).

The statues are animate Iron Living Statues (B37) - guardians left behind by the old order. They will attack unauthorized hands trying to liberate their bounty.

G - Chemist's Room

A desk with an alembic adorns one corner. A frame with no bed, the other. Strewn about the floor are several vials - some empty, some filled with unidentified (but harmless) liquids, and one filled with a Potion of Flying. 

H - Acolyte's Room

An armor mannequin stands cockeyed in one corner of the room. An unused straw pallet lies on the floor among rodent droppings.

I - Hoarder's Room

The door into this room is trapped. A character stepping through without having disarmed the trap may activate a bladed pendulum - 2d6 damage, THAC0 16 - which resets itself automatically after each swing. Inside is a frame without a bed and a writing table with a silver compass in it (450 gp). Under the writing table, there is a loose tile in the floor - under which can be found a sextant (450 gp), a necklace - platinum, with a blue sapphire centerpiece, flanked by diamonds (1,500 gp), and a pouch containing 1,000 silver.

Level 2

Scale: 10 ft

A - Balcony

A railing lines the central atrium - open to the first level - it is, by and large, unbroken: although several of the columns supporting it have been knocked out or rotted. Lining this, also, is a kneeling bench - hard and pockmarked, whatever cushion once atop its rim having been totally consumed by insects. At interval - silver chalices are affixed to the railing - 6 on each, the east and west sides, and valued at 100 gp each. The wood around them has swollen: a stuck-doors check (or other ingenuity) is required to remove them. Silver being a soft metal, some manhandling won't damage them too much - at least, not so much as to be beyond reverse manhandling back into shape.

B - Hidden Foyer

Barrels line the north wall; crates, the west. Along the south are cob-webbed ladders. Four Giant Centipedes (B33) are crawling about the barrels near the north-west corner: three on the ceiling, one on the floor.

C - Bellman's Stair

A skeleton is crumpled in the northern part of the chamber, partially obscured by books - redundant copies of some of the tomes in the library - which have fallen on it from a storage rack. The books are worm-eaten and the stairs creak intensely.

Level 3

Scale: 10 ft

A - West Climb

Several sets of manacles rest in the north-west corner. Along the west wall, a tarp has been thrown over a cage - locked - inside which is a small idol made from a strange, foreign material. It is as stone - red in color - and carved to resemble a fat creature with an infernal smile, empty eye sockets, and one horn in its forehead. In its hands, it holds two eyes: one, mother of pearl with an emerald pupil; the other, onyx with golden-yellow tourmaline. They are worth 500 gp each.

Further, if the statue is removed, the black wooden box on which it sits, surprisingly flimsy, can be broken open: revealing 2,200 ep.

B - East Climb

The floor creaks and has several points at which one can see through cracks or holes to the floor below. Despite its appearance, it is sound. Three rusted iron rods lie on the floor against the north wall.

Level 4

Scale: 10 ft

A - West Belfry 

The floor of this room is filled with small ionic columns: one foot tall, each with an identical one foot square abacus atop the shaft - placed at even increments one foot from each other. They are not affixed to the ground and can be knocked over, re-arranged, or removed fairly easily.

Standing in the room quietly for a few moments will cause the party to begin to hear what sounds like a choir singing in a foreign tongue - it will be quiet at first, grow subtly in volume: but will remain below a speaking tone. If someone in the party speaks or otherwise makes noise, it instantly quiets. The effect will return after a few minutes of silence.

An apparatus for a bell can be seen in the tall cone over the indicated circle. Climbing into the cone reveals three amphora tucked away along the ledge at the cone's base: each contain ashes - but the first two contain 5,000 silver pieces each, as well; and the last contains 300 gold.

B - East Belfry

On a table to the south of the stair - which would require a character to climb over the railing or complete the climb and walk around to access, a square cut diamond can be seen. It's quality is suspect - but it's still worth 100 gp.

Inside a tall cone above the indicated circle is a great brass bell. Along an interior ledge - if a character were to climb within - can be found a locked chest with 800 gp in it: however living in the bell is a hoard of bugs - an Insect Swarm, crawling (B37) - which have made a nest within it using chewed and regurgitated wood and parchment.

 

Public domain and open license artwork retrieved from OldBookIllustration.com and Pixabay, respectively. Attribution provided in alt text.