THIRD LEVEL ADVENTURE

FIFTH EDITION RULES

 INTRODUC TION

Backstory
Pontifex Maximus was the last singular avatar of God
on Earth during the end of the old era, whose rule
was symbolized by three relics: Crown of Tongues,
Brooch of Eyes, and Cup of Hands.

His murder was a culmination of massive political

plot and terrible religious guilt, a grievous sin against
civilization itself. As the three killers retreated, each
of them stole a holy relic. Cup of Hands was taken
far to the west, beyond the Forest of Afterlife, and
placed deep inside a stone temple. Grey monks
vowed to safeguard it, believing it sent from Pontifex
Maximus himself.

Blood on the traitors’ hands never dried. Instead,

it flowed from Cup until it bathed the temple and
valley in a flood of profane holy blood, thick and
dark and hateful. Life withered and rocks crumbled
under the weight of sin. And when the last of the
murderers’ grandchildren died, Cup of Hands
stopped bleeding.

Deadly miasma hung over the region for a

generation. Vines and stalks black and blistering fed
on coagulated growths, while emaciated vampires
wearing grey monks’ skins hid among the shadows
of the ruined temple and horrible fleshy beasts
emerged from black pools, to prey on the faithful.
One month ago, Voiceless Dead started stirring
throughout the realm. Elves are moving to the
cities, speaking of rotting roots and dying forests.
Some religious scholars believe Pontifex Maximus
has returned; with him, a cessation of life and death.
Now, a regiment of Voiceless dead moves to Temple
of Old Faith to recover fabled Cup of Hands. Their
purpose is clear and their behavior singular.
Motivated by greed and glory, adventurers rush
towards the same goal, followed by dark clouds.
Summary
Adventure’s layout is composed of three spreads
covering dungeon descriptions and maps, with
additional tools for random generation of elements.
Maps are not strictly defined in size; use your
best judgment to increase or decrease play areas
according to preference and usability.
A larger space imparts a different sense of
geography, which is immediately relevant for the
fiction itself. Larger temple is more awesome and
formidable, as well as tactically different. It allows
for more interesting features on a single map, which
would otherwise become an unconvincing mess.

1
 ROLL 2d10, C OMBINE RE SULTS

Ap p e a ra nce Affl i cti on

+ INT, tool use, communicates HUMAN 1 COVERED WITH EYES + perception, + attack

+ grab, flying DRAGONFLY 2 A HUNDRED FANGS + attack, + damage, vampiric

+ stealth, venomous SERPENT 3 LONG RUBBERY ARMS - AC, + range

+ stealth, + attack CAT 4 A DOZEN LARGE FEET + speed, + grab, - stealth

tool use, group tactics APE 5 SCABS EVERYWHERE + AC, - speed

+ speed, leap, poisonous FROG 6 BLOOD BURST MAGIC save CON vs damage, blindness

+ AC, venomous CENTIPEDE 7 PRESSURIZED GLANDS ranged splash attack

flying, vampiric attack BAT 8 SHARP OPEN BONES reflect melee damage

+ grab, web SPIDER 9 FAT WITH BLOOD + HP, - AC, explode when dead

+ stealth, immune to crit AMORPHOUS 10 KNOWS YOUR HEART + stealth, save WIS vs fear

For brevity’s sake, the adventure omits many what-

if scenarios, dialogue options, and treasure charts.
The primary purpose is to present a setting, and
provide useful information for the game table.
Dungeon description text on the following pages
contains random tables for additional scene details.
Each numbered area on the maps has a 33% chance
of having an evocative element present; roll a d12.
Stat blocks have been designed for maximum
readability and simplicity, as seen below.
First Scene
It starts with players arriving to the ancient temple,
surrounded by oppressive darkness of low clouds
and sagging pregnant treetops, choking on the wet
smell of rot and honey.
A feeling of confinement fills the swamp. Smells and
sounds emanate from the shadows. When players
first see the crumbled walls of Temple of Lost Faith,
describe a feeling of an ancient, foreign kind of
religious awe. As they march forth, their steps slog
through the shallow liquid, sweaty and itchy.

BLO OD B E AS T Have them notice suggestions of terrible creatures

watching and following. They are far away from
home, in a domain hostile to visitors.
AC
Attack +2 -4
14
STR INT

Melee DEX +2 +0
WIS
It’s a perfect moment to introduce blood beasts,
+5 CON +2 CHA -2 monstrously mutated denizens of the swamp. Roll
HP
Damage on the table above, once for each player. Now you
+3
35
Perception
have a group of enemy combatants ready for the
2d6+3 Stealth +3
first encounter.

2
 TE MPLE
Courtyard
Having just confronted the dangers lurking in the
wet darkness, players find themselves in Temple’s
courtyard, ready to brave the echoes of an age past.
Stone floor is wet and crumbling, pressed upon by the
low clouds and heavy canopy. Walls are completely
ruined, covered by thick slowly pulsating vines,
forming impassable terrain. Swamp is encroaching
mercilessly on the forgotten architecture.
It’s impossible not to hear d4+2 blood beasts feeding
on several dead bodies near the central structure.
Should players engage and investigate, eyes of the
dead are open, frozen in pale blue stares. These are
Voiceless, risen from their rest in pursuit of the very
same relic the players are after, Cup of Hands.
Emphasize the heaviness and entropy present in the
scene. Players will find ways to solve (or completely
avoid) problems you present them with. This is
good and shows they are interested in the game.
3
As they explore their immediate surroundings, they
will come upon interesting and surprising features,
setting details, or story hooks. Use the table below
to add such elements where appropriate.
1 Magical glyph spell carved into stone
2 Twelve black mushrooms growing in a circle
3 Blood crystal, shining red, very valuable
4 Voiceless corpse entangled by a vine
5 Blasphemous altar of a thousand teeth
6 Blood beast young nestled in a hanging vine
7 Cold wind, like whispered prayers
8 Mummified remains in grey robes
9 Sack of broken vials, “property of Countess”
10 d4+2 blood beasts eating a scabrous tumor
11 Voiceless crouching over a glowing relief
12 Rubble strewn across, giving partial cover
Map Key
1. TWISTING ENTRANCE
• Fat and grotesque vines and branches
• Wet soft ground soaking through boots
• Heavy damp smell sticking to the skin
2. POOL OF DEAD COAGULATION
• Outer wall ruined and submerged
• Smell is overpowering
• CON DC12 or vomit for d6 rounds
• Severed arm floating, holds a scrollcase with
a random magic spell
• d4 blood beasts lurking below surface
3. STONE STATUE
• Represents the unyielding aspect of God
• Heavy, immovable
• Shallow pool of thick blood
• Ceremonial knife hidden in stone cracks
• Stabbing statue’s heart
• 150 gp value
 C OURTYARD
4. WOODEN STATUE
• Separated from 3 by thick hard vines
• Represents the nurturing aspect of God
• Quiet and safe spot, perfect for rest
• Acorns for eyes
• Valuable spell components
• Torso and limbs smothered by black vines
5. BASIN OF FLOWING BLOOD,
ALTAR OF SUN AND LIGHTNING
• Covered and enclosed by crumbling stone
• Connects to 7 by way of a dark tunnel
• Bronze container vibrates with divine power
• Blood overflowing, keeping it full from below
• Two gilded mummies under the surface
• 200 gp value each
• Players can dive through to emerge from 9
4
6. SHADOWY TEAR
• Empty space of permanent darkness
• Maddened Voiceless pulling her teeth out,
arranging them in a pattern
• Every 13 minutes, a portal to 18 opens for 1
minute
7. MASSIVE BRONZE DOOR
• Connects to 8 through a U-shaped staircase
• Reachable only from 5
• Enveloped by deep shadow
• Lock recently broken and ripped out
• Giant triptych carved on the surface
• Dark man sitting in a chair, pensive
• Dark man speaking to four people
• Dark man working the fields
• Ancient words under it, a prayer:
Good thoughts, good words, good deeds.
 TE MPLE
Flooded Hall
Just below earth’s surface, there’s a vast pulsating
circulatory system. Invisible without torchlight,
obscured by red mist, a giant semi-organic structure
stands in the middle of what used to be a hospice
for the dying. Black and red vines shoot from it in
all directions; a web of arteries feeding the swamp
above.
Five meters tall ceiling is held up by the growths,
thick and impassable. Wet and porous stone walls
are hard and human-made in places, soft and alien
in others.
A very old entity is watching the players from his
hidden chambers. Possibly the last of his order, a
decrepit and insane grey monk seeks to protect Cup
of Hands. His loyalty is to Old Faith alone. Should
players find him and gain his trust (very hard), monk
asks for help against Voiceless. He tells about having
hidden Cup from unliving eyes below, begging
players to destroy them. If attacked, he runs.
He is skeletal in appearance, but fast and alert. His
eyes are bloodshot, and long nails black with scab
tissue. Lips dry and terribly malodorous speak in
hoarse paranoid whispers. Only blood can sustain
him, but he hides that fact.
5
As they explore their immediate surroundings,
players will come upon dangerous and disturbing
traps, hints of lost worlds, or story hooks. Use
the table below to add such elements where
appropriate.
1 Three scrolls on a shelf: lightning, fire, curse
2 Floor opens, fall through below, floor closes
3 Pressure plate clicks, nothing happens
4 Slip while stepping on a breathing rock
5 Two Voiceless carefully cutting open a vine
6 d6 Voiceless gathering blood samples
7 Leeches, d4 dmg/rnd, d4 rnds to remove
8 Two Voiceless drawing a pentagram of salt
9 Cold wind, like whispered prayers
10 Leg falls into soft floor, something touches it
11 Child’s stone casket, recently emptied
12 Pressure plate, needles, save or 2d8 psn
Map Key
8. RUSTY IRON GATE
• Massive relief of nurses caring for the sick
• Hinges rusted and loud
• Opened recently, guarding trap broken
• Cut human foot at the threshold
9. HEART OF THE TEMPLE
• Pulsating pillar of flesh and stone
• Mounds of soft tissue connected to vines
filling the room
• Blood within flows upwards
• Can be cut open carefully and entered to
reach 5
• If damaged recklessly, gushing blood floods
the area in 10 minutes
 FL O ODE D HALL
10. THE TUMOR
• Growth of blood vessels wrapped over stone
• Pulsates, breathing rhythmically
• Attempts to grab nearby people (+3 atk, STR
DC15 to break), but recoil near Voiceless
• Service ladder behind it connects to 6
11. FOUNDATION STONE
• Noticeably porous and weak
• Thick blood seeps over and through it
• Hidden hatch behind it connects to 17
• Can be destroyed with disastrous results, as it
destabilizes and ruptures the ceiling
12. GATEWAY TO BOTTOM LEVEL
• Black iron door, slightly ajar, connects to 15
• Massive hinges broken off
• Two Voiceless corpses melted and crushed by
the rearmed mechanism
• Eyes turned into blue gems from electricity
• 175 gp each
• Players touching the door take 3d8 dmg
6
13. DEEP CAVERN PASS
• Ancient storage room
• Dusty old cabinets
• Medicinal equipment scattered on floor
• Recent tracks of a limping human leading to
14 (WIS DC15 to track)
• Passage to natural caves behind rubble
14. GREY MONK’S CHAMBERS
• Yellow stained linen sheets
• Small weapons and holy texts
• Smell of infected wounds and formaldehyde
• Secret door in west wall
• Inside, grey monk deep in ritual, praying
to maintain a spell to hide Cup of Hands
• He is mistaken; the spell is old and self-
sustaining, and he is unnecessary
• Relics of Old Faith, 1000gp value
 TE MPLE

Sacred Depth Ensure your players understand the situation.

What was once a great library for the learned, now
hosts the most sacred of relics. Four corridors lined
and crossed with shelves hold thousands of ancient
pages of forgotten doctrines and knowledge.
The air is clean and cold, illuminated by a sourceless
white glow. Players enter with a sensation of
religious awe, feeling the presence of something
great and alien.
Voiceless will follow and attack any player who
reveals Cup’s location.
It’s up to the players to decide how it all ends. If
they wait for too long, Voiceless will systematically
break the structures until the artifact is revealed to
them.

Voiceless Dead’s footsteps echo through stone

floor and walls. If confronted, they acknowledge
then ignore players, looking for Cup which calls
to them through their master, Pontifex Maximus.
Movements of the human bodies they wear are
unnatural, clothes tattered and torn. One of them
is missing a foot.

A total of 4d4+1 of them linger in the area. Logos,

their apparent leader, is investigating the central
platform. She is the only one to pay attention to the
players, and willing to communicate. Her voice is
raspy and deliberate. Retrieving Cup is her only goal,
at any cost; she cannot be reasoned or intimidated
out of it. She doesn’t know where it is.

VOICE L E S S ON E
AC
Attack +2 +0
15
STR INT
Melee Ranged
DEX +1 WIS +0
+4 +3
CON +2 CHA -3
Map Key
HP Damage Darkvision

23 Melee
1d8+2 1d8+1
Ranged
Doesn’t stop until
beheaded.
15. DOORWAY FROM ABOVE
• White and unblemished, connects to 12
LO G O S BO N US • Symbols of deep earth, of the octacle
2 attacks per round Action: • WIS DC 15 or cursed with deep knowledge
HP +25 Attack +1 Damage +1
Raise a fallen Dead.
• See through illusion, a passage to 20
Usable twice.

16. CENTRAL RITUAL PLATFORM

In a dug-out passage, the fifth arm of the room, lies • Stone altar shaped like a cup
Cup of Hands. Illusion magic from the grey monk • Encrusted in black scab tissue
above is hiding it. • Fresh stains of red on a circular imprint

7
 SACRE D DE P TH
• Blood hanging in the air, in thin web-like
strands
• Logos of Voiceless investigating
17. WEST HAND
• Service hatch connects to 11
• Symbols of raging fire, of broken teeth
• WIS DC15 or berserk
• Floor covered with grey ash and jagged glass
18. NORTH HAND
• Shadowy rip in space connects to 6
• Symbols of sacrificial wind, of great horns
• East wall covered with bits of bone and hair
• Beneath, a broken child’s skeleton
• Cursed necklace on it
• Chokes wearer to death in 2d6 weeks
19. MONK’S PASSAGE
• A statuette of a crying woman, wet with tears
• Rusty spike stuck in its golden medallion
8
• Symbols of flowing water, of the womb
• INT DC15 or fugue for 1 hour
• Hear Cup’s call as whispers
• Ladder connecting to grey monk’s chambers,
hidden under a wall panel
20. HOLLOW HALLWAY
• Ancient illusory magic obscures it
• Can be pierced with earth spell from 15
• Can be heard with water spell from 19
• Grey monk can reveal it
• Players can detect it as a hidden door
• Passage lit with torches
• Sconces shaped like primitive human statues
• Actually mummies of dead monks
• Cup of Hands set on a slab, slowly overflowing
• If picked up, everything changes
• Monk’s screams are heard
• Logos moves to it quickly, panicked
• Blood beasts howling in pain far above
• Heart of the Temple is ruptured and floods
the whole underground in 15 minutes
 E PIL O GUE
Aftermath
An outsider picks up Cup of Hands. Old Faith’s
blessing breaks. The relic becomes known to
Voiceless dead, who immediately and brutally
attack the bearer. Blood beasts’ howls of agony echo
throughout the swamp as they flee from Temple in
terrible fear. If the grey monk is still alive, he dies in
ecstatic prayer, released from his duty.
Cup of Hands is a powerful artifact, and one of
three components believed to be necessary for
Pontifex Maximus’s manifestation in the current
era. Its worth is immeasurable, but only to those
who know what it is. Players should understand the
transformative power they now possess, even if it’s
not mechanically applicable in a game session.
9
What Next?
Players might want to discover what happens after
the adventure is over. Should you want to continue
the story, consider one of the following quests:
• Deliver Cup of Hands to the supreme religious
organization in the realm, Conclave of the
Pentacle,
• Seek out the other two relics of Pontifex: Brooch
of Eyes and Crown of Tongues,
• Explore the swamp and dominate the blood
beasts, whose scourge is now Cup’s carrier
• Sell the artifact to an anonymous buyer for a
hoard of gold and jewels.
Author’s Comments
Temple of Old Faith was written with functionality
and usability in mind. It’s short and dense, focused
on the atmosphere of the fictional setting. After all,
descriptions are truly brought to life by the game
master; written text serves only as a starting point
for inspiration.
Game master should take liberties during prep and
game session. There are several random roll tables
present in the adventure, the single best tool for
emergent storytelling and variety in scene dressing
and emergent story flow. They should see plenty of
use, as long as it makes sense.
Rules being very light is intentional. As it stands,
the adventure works best with a third level party,
but it’s easy to change; stat and trap blocks serve
as nothing more than a framework. Adventures like
this one are about the fantasy and atmosphere.
Everything else is quickly forgotten.
“Good Thoughts. Good Words. Good Deeds.”
 LEGAL
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Coast, Inc.
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15. COPYRIGHT NOTICE
Open Game License v 1.0a Copyright 2000, Wizards of the Coast, Inc.
System Reference Document 5.1 Copyright 2016, Wizards of the
Coast, Inc.; Authors Mike Mearls, Jeremy Crawford, Chris Perkins,
Rodney Thompson, Peter Lee, James Wyatt, Robert J. Schwalb,
Bruce R. Cordell, Chris Sims, and Steve Townshend, based on original
material by E. Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson.
Temple of Old Faith, Copyright 2019, Eight Pointed
END OF LICENSE
 Unremembered by most,
a holy man was betrayed by his jealous flock.

They took his Cup to a remote altar,

where it bled for an age, drowning and twisting the land.