Help with Shrine and Tomb ideas for 4E campaign

[ajanders]

There could be some elements of both though. Sealed away in the central vault of the tomb is the Priestess. There might be a way to get some help from her.

Personally I'd have the entry into the tomb rely on some sort of McGuffin and have a riddle that tells the PCs how to use it or how to find it. Personally I find that type of riddle preferable to the 'sit there and figure it out' type of puzzle.

Yes...bear with me here.

The priestess sealed the artifact away inside her tomb, protected from those that would destroy it to protect the mad god, but available to those who would come after, as foretold.

Then the followers of the mad god built a dungeon complex around the priestess' tomb, sealing it away from the heroes who would come after.
She's like the virtuous hole in a corrupted doughnut of evil.
Just a thought.

Now, as for tests...the priestess probably built her traps to catch the priests of the insane god. What does that god believe and what do his followers do?
Then figure out a way to make doing those things lethal.

Or, if she thought her opponents might be clever, she might anticipate this line of thinking and try to do what the god believed before he was corrupted. Therefore, following the theologically correct path will lead to death.

The clue you want to post to your players is some way to judge how clever she was.

Did this make sense?