Hello, and welcome to this week’s issue of LoreMasters - Your regular source of inspirations, ideas, and homebrew for your TTRPG games. In each issue, I'm going to be bringing you a veritable Heroes Feast of items, spells, podcasts, streams, Kickstarters, and STUFF, so if you like this, please subscribe and pass it on to your close friends and distant relatives.
As always, the main chunk of this newsletter is a homebrew for your game and if you have any questions, comments, or thoughts, come find me on the Twitters.
(Also, please check out my work on DMsGuild)
The Lost Temple Of Skikarr
The air was hot and humid, flies buzzed lazily in every direction, the way thick with overgrown roots and twisting vines.
Arnam slashed through the hanging palms with a well-loved machete, attempting to clear a path for the party, when with his next cut, light streamed into, a clearing ahead. Stepping from the treeline, it opened up in a wide area, with a flowing river and small waterfalls, and beyond that, black and looming against the brightness, the Temple. The prize.
With a grin, Moondyne pushed past Arnam, “Yes! I knew it!”, the elf jumping for joy, “I knew it was here!”
She skipped over the small bridge heading for the building else, glee and the promise of treasure in her eyes.
Arnam hung back, helfing his hammer. He’d read the scrolls, he knew what sort of being Skikarr was, he wasn’t so sure this was going to be the easy money his friend thought….
The Lost Temple Of Skikarr
The Lost Temple of Skikarr lurks deep in the Oobal Jungle.
Once upon a time, a renegade sect of worshippers split off from their faith, shunned by all for their practices, so they retreated here, slowly raising a temple to their new-found master, Skikarr, a being from beyond the Abyss, a gibbering and mind-bending creature of power and hunger.
They set to work, bringing their god to the material plane, finding sacrifices, and pouring their knowledge, arcane skill, and souls into the ritual, calling on dark and forbidden magiks to reach across the planes and open a portal for their God.
And it worked.
Skikarr came, pushing through into our world, but the frail and mortal bodies of the cult were consumed, the spell failing midway, trapping Skikarr betwixt world, half in and half out.
With the cult destroyed, nature started to reclaim the temple, but Skikarr still lurked, twisting all around it, bending the world, waiting for more souls to feed on, to complete the ritual and ascend to our plane…
To this day, tales of the temple abound, tales of the treasure within, of those who perished in their attempts to find it and make it their own…
The Lost Temple Of Skikarr is a one-shot/two-shot adventure for a party of four level 6 characters.
Skikarr is an eldritch being from beyond the abyss, defeat of it is not possible. Our weapons cannot hurt it, our spells cannot affect it. All we can do is survive it.
From the outside, the temple looks hand-built, of dark grey and black stone. It has clearly fallen into disrepair, with vines and broken columns to be seen from the outside.
A DC 13 perception or nature check will let a player know that despite being in the middle of the jungle, there are no animal tracks about, and the birds above seem to fly around the clearing, rather than over it.
The front doors are large stone doors, heavy but unlocked
Room 1
The lobby of the temple. Everything is covered in a thin layer of dust and stone. Across the room there is a ceiling-high pile of rubble, completely blocking the way forward. In the middle of the room is a carved and painted sigil of Skikarr.
There are two doors out of the room, one to Room 2 (which appears to have water leaking from under it) and one to Room 3 (which has a thin vine growing under it)
Room 2
Steps lead down 4 feet into a water-filled room, with another step of steps leading out again to the right.
The door out is locked and will require a DC 12 Sleight Of Hand check to unlock or a DC 13 Athletics check to break down.
The water contains a Water Elemental who will attack the party if they step foot on the bottom of the water.
Room 3
The room is overrun with weeds, fungus and vine, covering all surfaces. The entire room is considered difficult terrain.
In the room are two Mantraps and four Violet Fungus, who will attack the party upon sight.
A DC 10 nature check will notice the Mantraps upon opening the door. while the violet fungus remains motionless, it is indistinguishable from an ordinary fungus.
Room 4
All across the room are many large puddles of thick black water. Directly across the room is a broken door, and beyond a thick mass of cobwebs. To the right, a series of bars reveal Skikarr, bursting through the floor.
In this room, the players can hear Skikarr muttering and gibbering at them, attempting to beguile them, bend them to its will.
Any player that starts its turn within this room must make a DC 10 Wisdom saving throw
On a success, the player is immune to Skikarr until the end of its next turn
On a failure, the player is beguiled by Skikarr and is stunned into the start of its next turn.
Most of the puddles are simply collected rainwater, but Skikarr has twisted some into something darker, bending two into Black Puddings. They will wait until the party is entirely in the room before attacking.
Room 5
Skeletons line the walls of this room, all chained up and long picked clean. Most are humanoid in nature, but there are the bleached bones of what was once a young dragon. These were sacrifices as part of the ritual to summon Skikarr.
In this room, the players can hear Skikarr muttering and gibbering at them, attempting to beguile them, bend them to its will.
Any player that starts its turn within this room must make a DC 10 Wisdom saving throw
On a success, the player is immune to Skikarr until the end of its next turn
On a failure, the player is beguiled by Skikarr and is stunned into the start of its next turn.
The room contains 8 Ghouls, kept animated by Skikarr’s power. They are chained to the walls and can only use their Bite attack if a player gets within reach.
Each turn, for each Ghoul, make a DC 12 Strength check. On success, they break free, lumbering towards the players. Otherwise, they will simply howl and moan and fight their restraints to escape.
Across the room are a pair of heavy stone doors. They are locked and require a DC 12 Sleight Of Hand check to pick or a DC 13 Athletics check to break down.
Room 6
Skikarr itself. A mass of gibbering and turning flesh, teeth, and gaping maw. It pushes and hungers for souls, stuck between worlds.
Skikarr is immune to all damage and is considered unkillable. Any attack by the players on it may damage flesh, but that damage is soon turned and twisted back into the folds, replaced with new and raw flesh.
Skikarr is not something you kill, Skikarr is something you survive for treasure.
Room 7
The room is filled with cobwebs, sticky and thick to touch. The players can see at the back two chests, closed and coated. The roof is high and lost to the gloom.
These web-filled areas are difficult terrain. Moreover, a creature entering a webbed area for the first time on a turn or starting its turn there must succeed on a DC 12 Dexterity saving throw or become restrained by the webs. A restrained creature can use its action to try to escape, doing so with a successful DC 12 Strength (Athletics) or Dexterity (Acrobatics) check.
Each 10-foot cube of giant webs has AC 10, 15 hit points, vulnerability to fire, and immunity to bludgeoning, piercing, and psychic damage.
The room contains 3 Giant Spiders and 2 Phase Spiders, who will attack the party.
In the chests are 1000 gold, 3 spell scrolls, and most importantly, the key to access Room 9 from Room 8.
Room 8
This appears to be a long-forgotten library, with scrolls and books mostly crumbling and falling apart, or water-logged and moldy. The stench of decay and death hangs heavy in the air.
Any player who enters this room or starts their turn in this room must make a DC14 Constitution saving throw, or take 2d6 poison damage and be Poisoned for the next minute
A successful save makes a player immune to the decay in the air.
The door leading out of this room is locked and barred. It cannot be broken down and will require a DC 26 Sleight Of Hand check to pick.
Room 9
The cult’s throne room.
There are three mummified bodies on the floor of the room, a Bodak and two Wights. As soon as the players enter the room, they will rise and attack.
In this room, the muttering and gibbering of Skikarr intensifies.
Any player that starts its turn within this room must make a DC 13 Wisdom saving throw. Any player who has previously failed this save has disadvantage.
On a success, the player is immune to Skikarr until after they complete a short rest.
On a failure, the player is beguiled by Skikarr and is stunned into the start of its next turn.
Once all of the undead have been vanquished, Skikarr retreats temporarily. The muttering ceases until the next dawn.
Searching the room, the players can find 2000 gold, as well as a rare magic item per player.
Phew! A long one today, but I started with the idea of a lost temple and then my imagination ran away from me!
In many ways, this is a standard trope for D&D, exploration of the lost temple. And I’ve tried my best to lean into that, with a couple of tweaks of my own.
Straight off the bat, I want to make it clear that this is a HARD fight. The rooms get harder the deeper in they go, but the players will have to clear all 8 to make it through, and that’s 4 encounters plus the environmental effects.
The role of Skikarr is in many ways the core of this temple. They aren’t as much as an enemy as the force of nature, and I wanted to work with the idea that the longer you are in the temple, the more they can start to affect you, making you weaker and helping to feed their power!
Things To Check Out
This is the part of the newsletter where I bring you a few things to check out that inspired me and might inspire you.
Crucible
A brand new D&D magazine, Crucible, is launching over on Kickstarter. If you’re reading this newsletter, I’m guessing this will be right up your street. They seem to be doing some very interesting things with this, ideas like .stl files for download of new monsters described or VTT modules, it does feel like the first of this sort of thing to embrace the new world of gaming, online and in-person
Morph’s Art Pack
This is a free art pack from Morphs, and I love the style of these. I can be guilty of making my games so po-faced and serious, and I really dig the cuter and hand-drawn style of these, help me bring a new vibe to my games, or to use on media within my game, I can see making maps or scrolls using these, as drawn by my characters.