The Forgotten Gaurdian

[Gorin Stonecleaver]

Just an idea I had, for an adventure feel free to comment on it or ridicule it as deemed necessary.

Long ago an empire was crumbling and an old priest in a small temple saw the need to save his god's artifact from those who might destroy it. He instructed his acolyte to seal him deep within the catacombs of the church behind a stone and mortar wall. Before the last stone was placed the acolyte prepared and ate dinner with his mentor. They prayed and gave thanks and said some tearful goodbyes. Then the last stone was placed and the acolyte left the catacombs. He prayed before the altar when he reached the temple and then he disrobed leaving all his belongings in the church. Carrying only what he came into the world with he left the church never to be seen or heard from again. It was a slow and agonizing death for the priest of dehydration and starvation. The church lay abandoned for centuries and the great destruction the priest feared never came to pass. The building was demolished and rebuilt several times over and for the fisrt decade or so someone would come by and leave a small offering of food and water. The church is now completely unrecognizable as it is now the residence of a wealthy merchant. Deep under the wine cellar lie the forgotten catacombs and the long dead walled up priest a holy relic and something sinister born out of hate and despair.

 

[AddizAbeba]

What I read here is a nice backstory. What you now need is the adventure itself. What is the despairing, hating spirit of the forgotten priest up to? Is he starting to torment the merchant? Or is it something bigger? Is it only nightmares?
And then, you should not forget that the backstory has to slammed in the PCs faces if you would like them to ever find it out, because PCs are usually not interested in the reason why the place is haunted; I mean, they will not be looking for the reasons unless it ties in fully with the way to solve it. So maybe the only way to solve it is turning the merchant's home back into a temple of that same deity. Then the deity could give away (+1 to stat) blessings when the PCs restore the temple to it's glory, and make sure the relic is kept there still. (so no thieving of holy relics).

The irony is worst for the merchant, who gets the opposite result of what he bargained for, or maybe even says that the party did not help him: he loses his house.

Just some ideas.... this could be made bigger and bigger I guess: is the diety of the forgotte priest still known in this age? What's its portfolio/alginment? Does its preist hood need a revival?

 

[AddizAbeba]

oh, and the simple way to solve it is just to slay the spirit of course, so make sure that there is enough incentive for the PCs to listen to the spirits words before attacking it.
I had it happen before: a whole story gone because the PCs just slew the creature, not reacting to pleas of parley.

 

[Gorin Stonecleaver]

Thanks for the input, I left the story vague on purpose to see what kind of ideas I got from other posters. I had thought to lead the PC's to the story thru a will. The acolyte is a long dead distant relative who left something to one of the PC's. The item is a journal old and faded. Mentioning a holy magic item and the old temple perhaps a landmark to point them in the direction of the merchant house. How they proceed is up to them. house of records? temple records? just break into the house? whatever they want.

I do like the idea you presented of restoring the temple...but that might become a campaign as opposed to an adventure yet I do like the idea.

As for the spirit yes its much bigger it is actually a haunting-dragon issue....(the number escapes me i am at work).

Anymore ideas please post em.

Thanks

What I read here is a nice backstory. What you now need is the adventure itself. What is the despairing, hating spirit of the forgotten priest up to? Is he starting to torment the merchant? Or is it something bigger? Is it only nightmares?
And then, you should not forget that the backstory has to slammed in the PCs faces if you would like them to ever find it out, because PCs are usually not interested in the reason why the place is haunted; I mean, they will not be looking for the reasons unless it ties in fully with the way to solve it. So maybe the only way to solve it is turning the merchant's home back into a temple of that same deity. Then the deity could give away (+1 to stat) blessings when the PCs restore the temple to it's glory, and make sure the relic is kept there still. (so no thieving of holy relics).

The irony is worst for the merchant, who gets the opposite result of what he bargained for, or maybe even says that the party did not help him: he loses his house.

Just some ideas.... this could be made bigger and bigger I guess: is the diety of the forgotte priest still known in this age? What's its portfolio/alginment? Does its preist hood need a revival?