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Message: <blockquote data-quote="ajanders" data-source="post: 846362" data-attributes="member: 3271">Here we goThere's got to be something I left out, but I think this is all I can manage.Ingredients1.shadow crocodiles2. manacles3. animate dead4. judge5. joyful laughter6. paladinand your extra, "wild card" ingredient is: owlbearNotes1.  This adventure deals heavily in the concepts and meanings of what "Lawful Good" is and what "Paladins" are.  These concepts may differ from campaign to campaign.  Here this relies on something explicitly defined within the adventure as ONE POSSIBLE CONCEPTION of Lawful Good: characters or players with a different conception do indeed have a chance to debate this.2.  This adventure is written to require a great deal of character discussion about aspects of the setting the player likely does not know intimately: namely, religious doctrine.  A dice mechanic will be noted to where necessary, but in general, player roleplaying should take precedence over player dice-rolling.The Pyramid of JudgementSynopsisThe Order of Ansek-Raten is a very old society of paladins and lawful good priests.  At one time, it had some hundreds of members ranking among the nobility: to wear the emblem of the order marked one out as a hero worthy of the highest adulation and admiration.  That time was long ago.  Now all that remains is their golden Pyramid of Judgement, the proving ground where candidates and members alike tested their dedication to Law and Good.  The tutors and judges of those trials have bound themselves to the pyramid forever, faithful to their mission even after death.The golden pyramid, five hundred feet high, still sits in the desert, its one great open door a challenge to all who would enter and be judged worthy.   Adventure Hooks1.  Many paladins regard a successful completion of the Pyramid of Judgement as a signal mark of honor.  They may seek this out as a spiritual challenge.  Lawful Good priests, especially those with a martial bent, also seek the Pyramid of Judgement in the hopes of being found worthy.2.  The Order of Ansek-Raten is very old, but it documented itself very well.  The entire history of the order, as well as many bits of ancient history, geography, and religion are scribed on the walls in pictograms.  Many scholars would like to examine them, but don't particularly wish to try and be a paladin, for both ethical and practical reasons.  They may request a party to enter the temple and take notes while overcoming the challenges.3.  A party trapped in a sandstorm (or by oncoming orc hordes) may take the view "Any port in a storm".  They might change their minds after they get started.Intro roomThis room is covered with intricate pictograms granting an overview of the Order's history and the basis of their code of honor, listing their central tenets of courtesy, integrity, self-control, perseverance, and indomitable spirit.  It also provides instructions for beginning the test.There is one closed door in the far wall.  The pictograms are a primitive representation of Celestial: they may be translated with a Decipher Script roll with a DC of 15 if the translator speaks Celestial, 20 if they do not.The instructions indicate that to begin the test, all who wish to be judged must draw a weapon and touch it to the door on the far wall.  Letting go the weapon indicates a desire to cease the test: an admission of surrender.  All individuals undergoing the test must hold their weapons in order to progress: a single surrender ends the party's progress.Opening the closed door leads the party to the Dark RoomDark RoomThis room is completely black and faced with black basalt.  It bears a Hall of Speech effect (Stronghold Builder's Guidebook) which permits everyone within it to understand all spoken languages.When the party enters this room, they find the door behind them has disappeared.  There is another door on the opposite wall.A magic mouth will speak the following in Celestial."We begin in darkness, with only our faith.  Remember the tenets of our order: courtesy, integrity, self-control, perseverance, and indomitable spirit.  Think carefully about what you do.You will stand or fall together: the failure of one is the failure of all.Drop your weapon to surrender.  All of you must touch your weapons to the door that opens onward to go forward.Go with your god."When all candidates touch their weapons to the door on the opposite wall, it opens.Room of Doors (Test of Courtesy)Joyful laughter echoes through this most peculiar room as the candidates enter.This room also bears a Hall of  Speech effect, and is lit by everburning torches.The 40 foot by 40 foot room is filled with narrow stone doors: one for every five foot section of wall, a dozen trapdoors on the ceiling, and four on the floor.  Aside from that, it appears to contain twelve people eating, drinking, telling stories, and celebrating.  The walls and doors are covered with the same sort of petroglyphs as in the Intro room: note the Hall of Speech does not allow for them to be translated magically.  If the pictograms are translated, they provide all sorts of information on ancient ettiquette: sort of an Emily Post guide that's 2000 years out of date.  There are also descriptions of various social festivals the Order attended, like a very old social register.  One phrase is commonly repeated: "Courtesy opens all doors."The people in the room are actually shadow conjurations of 1st level commoners.  The entry of the weapon-bearing candidates will frighten: they will dive for cover and cower.At this point their attitudes should be considered effectively hostile, though they will make no move to attack the party.The party will likely want to ask someone which door is the door onward: the only answer they recieve is "I don't know."  Furthermore, none of the people in the room can translate the pictograms.This room serves as a test of courtesy.  The candidates must, by making diplomacy checks as outlined in the DMG or by other means, adjust the "people's" attitudes to Friendly.  Once this is done, the room will be filled with their joyous laughter and all the doors will open of themselves.  The leftmost door on the far wall will have another door behind it, all the others open onto the hewn stone of the walls.When the candidates touch the door with their weapons, it opens.Dropping a weapon and signaling to end the contest dispells the conjurations and leaves the chamber silent and empty.  A figure in plate mail comes through the leftmost door of the far wall and leads everyone back the way they came to the Intro Room.Pool Room  (Test of Integrity)This 20 foot by 20 foot room has a 40 foot deep pool in its center.  An armored figure stands beside it and a skeleton lays beside it.  A coil of rope and flask lay beside the skeleton.  There is a door on the far wall.This room also bears a Hall of  Speech effect, and is lit by everburning torches.  The walls  are covered with the same sort of petroglyphs as in the Intro room: note the Hall of Speech does not allow for them to be translated magically.  If they are translated, they will be revealed as a discussion of the philosophy and ethics of the Order: thoughts on how to be Good.  One phrase is commonly repeated: "Corrupt means mean corrupt ends."As the party enters the room, the armored figure salutes them and speaks the following words."There is a holy sword in the pool.  You may remove it, but beware the fish.  Take the lesson of your unfortunate predecessor."  (pointing to the skeleton).Looking in the pool does reveal fish with large flesh-eating teeth, also a sword on the bottom.  It will radiate magic and good if properly examined.When examined, the flask is found to contain a mystical oil that will, when spread on a corpse, cause it to rise as a skeleton or zombie as if animate dead had been cast upon it.  The armored figure will reveal this information if asked.It is perfectly possible to animate the skeleton, tie a rope around it, send it down into the pool to get the sword, and then haul it back up with the rope.  The bones will be unmolested by the fish.  The armored figure will mention this plan is "possible" if he is asked.  He will not make any mention of whether it is Good or not.If someone swims down to get the sword, the fish will not attack.  The armored figure will throw them the rope if they appear to be drowning, and help pull them out of the water.The sword is a +1 holy weapon, but is not a requirement to pass on to the next challenge, and the armored figure will explain that as well if asked.Wall Room (Test of Self-Control)This 20 by 40 room has a 20 foot high ceiling and a 10 foot wall fully five feet thick across it.  There is a band of thick shining grease across the wall.  One armored figure for each candidate is standing by the door.This room also bears a Hall of  Speech effect, and is lit by everburning torches.  The walls  are covered with the same sort of petroglyphs as in the Intro room: note the Hall of Speech does not allow for them to be translated magically.  If they are translated, they will be revealed as inspiring slogans extolling teamwork to overcome obstacles.  A common phrase is "The wall before you may be a step."The armored figures bring out heavy chain manacles for each candidate and explain that the door is on the other side.  They ask if the characters will be willing to don the manacles and help them over the wallThe wall has a Climb DC of 32 (hewn stone + grease).  The armored figures weigh 200 pounds each and stand 6 feet tall.  The manacles are tempered steel, hardness 12, 10 hp, break DC  25.  The unlock DC is only 10.  The manacles have a 15 foot length of chain between them.The simplest way to solve this problem is to heed the inscriptions on the walls.  If the armored figures are asked, they will stand next to the walls and allow candidates to climb onto their shoulders.  If needful, they are willing and able to boost the candidates over their heads.  Standing on their shoulders gives candidates a 6 foot boost: if they can reach up four feet, they will find a groove on the top of the wall that allows them to pull themselves up easily (Strength Check DC 5).If the figures boost the candidates over their heads, they provide an 8 foot boost, allowing even halflings to reach the groove.Once that's done, the characters then need only go to the far edge of the wall and ask the armored figures to jump up when they jump down.  With the candidate acting as a counterweight, the armored figures will be able to catch the groove and pull themselves up easily.  Because the wall is five feet across, the candidate will not hit the ground hard enough to cause damage: they can fall only  four feet until there is no more slack on the chain.  The armored figures will walk across the wall and pull themselves up slowly enough that the candidates will be lowered slowly to the ground.  The armored figures will hang and drop from the wall without any difficulty.  They will then undo the manacles and indicate the door in the far wall.Arena (Test of Indomitable Spirit)This 30 foot diameter arena has two gated entrances besides the door you came in.  This room also bears a Hall of  Speech effect, and is lit by everburning torches.  The walls  are covered with the same sort of petroglyphs as in the Intro room: note the Hall of Speech does not allow for them to be translated magically.  If they are translated, they will be revealed as military histories and tactical manuals of the order.  The histories describe battles with Set (or some other evil god appropriate to the setting).  Oddly enough, no one phrase is repeated here.A voice speaks from the ceiling." Prepare to fight the forces of bitter evil and to end  the forces of chaos."The gates open, revealing one inky black alligator and one inky black owlbear for each member of the party.  These are created using a shades spell to create shadow creatures: apply the shadow template as normal, then make the 60% power multiplier.If the candidates fall unconscious, the conjurations will turn their attention from them and armored figures will come out from the gates, stabilize them, and provide healing potions.If the candidates defeat the shades, they may go through either of the gates: the passages on the other side lead to one central passage, at the end of which lies the door onward.The Room of the Strict Judge (Perseverence)This 20 by 20 room is dominated by a dais with a throne atop it.Sitting on the throne is an armored figure.This room also bears a Hall of  Speech effect, and is lit by everburning torches.  The walls  are covered with the same sort of petroglyphs as in the Intro room: note the Hall of Speech does not allow for them to be translated magically.  If they are translated, they will be revealed as essays and meditations on the nature of faith and Law.  One key phrase repeated constantly is "Law is not arbitrary: it has reasons."The armored figure will regard the candidates, and then say contemptuously: "You have failed.  Go back the way you came."  He will not explain why.Any response brings his answer again.  "I say you have failed.  Go back the way you came."  He will still not explain why.Any response generates the answer "Be silent!  You have failed.  Go back the way you came now."Any response after that brings the courteous answer "Now you have persevered.  Now you have succeeded."He will open the door onward himself for the candidates to pass through.The Room of HonorThis elaborate chapel contains an altar on which rests one symbol of the Order for each candidate.This room also bears a Hall of  Speech effect, and is lit by everburning torches.  The walls  are covered with the same sort of petroglyphs as in the Intro room: note the Hall of Speech does not allow for them to be translated magically.  If they are translated, they will be revealed as praises of all the gods of Law and Good.A voice speaks from the ceiling.  "Take what you have earned.  Use them well."The holy symbols of the order grant a +1 sacred bonus to armor and all saving throws.</blockquote>

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