A pantheon (not the Parthenon) is a collection of gods. It comes from the Greek "pan" (meaning "all", like "pandemic") and "theos" (meaning "gods", like "theology"). Today's dungeon is a temple jammed into the base of a ravine. It's haunting beauty cleverly tricks unsuspecting adventurers in and then destroys them with guile. It's simple design allows you to stock it full of any kind of gods/creatures you'd like and then fit it snugly into your world.
Entry
The eastern part of the ravine has a cave exit that opens to a classical Greek temple. From east to west, there are:
- two fountains (one north and one south)
- a tall colonnade that stands 15 meters tall between the fountains
- a circular tholos (circular temple to the gods) beyond
Each one of these could hold various enemies and all contain reliefs that illustrate mythical stories of the gods and their exploits.
Fountains
There's two ways to go here.
As a fountain, these can give birth to water elementals that your players need to defend against, the waters could reveal truths about the characters when they look into them, or you could do a Narcissus thing where the players are charmed looking at their own reflections and then slowly pulled into the water by spectral hands. Looking at the surface of the water is pleasant, but if you look below the water line you'll find it's full of skeletons of birds, beasts, and adventurers (and possibly their loot).
Alternatively, you could put two giant lion statues instead of fountains and have the lions leap off as protective guardians and demand to know what the adventurers want. If they fail to appease the lions, the party gets attacked.
Colonnade and It's Pediment
The colonnade is simply the entryway to the primary complex. The columns aren't anything extraordinary. However, the pediment (the triangular "roof" structure on top) has a living statuary that is part of the tympanum. The statues come to life as the players enter the colonnade and then climb down the columns and attack from behind.
Tholos
The round part of the temple where the statues of the gods stand. At the center of the room is a 10m radius circular garden. Unexpectedly, the grass in the garden is manicured and the tree is well cared for -- though the rest of the tholos is covered in cobwebs and has clearly been abandoned for some time. There is no roof and you can see up the sheer walls of the treacherous ravine.
Each of the statues has a torch holder in case they get there at night.
Each of the god statues is a portal to the god it represents, so any prayers and sacrifices can be made here just as they would in any other temple. In this configuration, you can have seven god statues if the statues stand in the spaces or eight god statues if they stand at the end of the dividers.
If your don't have your own panel of gods, the seven god statues around the room should be (in order, starting southeast and moving clockwise):
- Terus, God of Earth
- Frostus, Goddess of Ice
- Loftus, Goddess of Air
- Injus, God of Sin
- Embus, God of Fire
- Wantus, God of Greed
- Hadrius, Goddess of the After
The Gold Tree
At the center stands a giant copperwood tree. As the adventurers approach, the branches lift themselves higher so the adventurers can't pick the leaves. Stepping on the grass activates a puzzle -- bringing forth a haunting chorus of voices as the gods speak in unison.
If other adventurers step on the grass while a player is being quizzed, the newcomers are pushed back off the grass via shock wave for no damage (landing on their feet). Successive incursions cause a more violent reaction and result in damage. If the adventurer being spoken to attempts to leave without offering an answer, he or she is violently pulled back onto the grass, they take a single hit point of damage, and the riddle is repeated. Once an answer is officially given, the grass is deactivated until the end of combat.
Each adventurer can only activate the puzzle once. If a player answers the riddle correctly, the grass is deactivated permanently. Thus, only one golden leaf can be obtained. This deactivation is permanent even if the players for some reason come back to this location in the future. If the adventurers tell an NPC the solution, that NPC will not be able to activate the puzzle.
Any attempt to climb the tree will cause the endlessly regenerating bark to shed making it impossible to climb. Any attempt to cut the tree down will cause lightning to arc from all the statues and strike the would-be attacker.
Riddle of the Gods
When a single player approaches the tree (steps on the grass), the puzzle is activated. The gods project their voices in unison and ask the player on the grass their riddle.
The riddle is:
- "One for earth, one for ice,
one for air and one for vice
me for fire, he for gold
she guides the dead and haunts the old.
All of us our ears beseech,
which of us would you impeach?"
The player on the grass has to give an official answer. Here is a list of possible answers and their results:
- "Terus, God of Earth" - a small rock golem forms from the ravine walls and jumps down to attack
- "Frostus, Goddess of Ice" - the room fills with fog and the adventurers are attacked by wisps
- "Loftus, Goddess of Air" - the adventurers are descended upon by large birds or bats
- "Injus, God of Sin" - three spectral sirens with high charisma appear
- "Embus, God of Fire" - a fire elemental appears and attacks
- "Wantus, God of Greed" - a whirlwind pulls bits of grass, leaves, bark, stone, cobwebs, and items off of the adventurers together to form a patchwork "soldier" that attacks
- "Hadrius, Goddess of the After" - dozens of skeletons rise from the fountains out front and attack from the rear
- "All of you" - the gods reincarnate a particularly difficult enemy from the characters' past
- "We can't live without any of you" - the correct answer, a single golden leaf falls from the tree
The Golden Leaf
When viewed, the leaf carves the words "Eat for Gold" in itself. Chewing the leaf will cause paralysis and conversion to gold of the extremities. This effect takes about sixty seconds and is fatal if not reversed within that time. It effects the following locations in this order:
- 10 seconds: fingers, hands and feet
- 20 seconds: legs to the knees, arms to the elbows
- 30 seconds: eyes (causing blindness)
- 40 seconds: genitalia
- 50 seconds: hips, shoulders, hair,
- 60 seconds: lungs, heart, brain (causing death)
If during that time the imbiber spits out or vomits up the leaf, the leaf will return to its pre-chewed state and the effect will reverse itself slowly over the following hour. If the effect does not complete, any parts removed from a partially "goldified" imbiber (like hair) immediately revert to their original form. If the effect does complete, the imbiber becomes a stunningly heavy golden statue.
- herbivores will find the taste of the leaf enjoyable
- omnivores will notice a distinct metallic taste but it is still edible
- carnivores will abhor the taste of the leaf
- specters, demons, and undead are not effected by the leaf
As the hands are the first thing to be frozen, the imbiber can't induce vomiting on their own and thus require one of the other adventurers to stick their finger down his or her throat.
Behind the Temple
Behind two of the god statues (one in the north-northwest wall and another in the west-southwest wall) are two crawl spaces that lead to a tiny bit of open space behind the temple that are just more of the original ravine. These spaces can easily contain loot for curious adventurers.
What would you feed the golden leaf to get rich? Do you need me to retool this thing for nine gods instead of eight or seven? Let me know in the comments below. Feel free to change anything you don't like, but if you like more than you don't, share this post with your friends on Twitter and Facebook.