One-Shot: The Temple of Stone

I ran a one-shot called The Temple of Stone yesterday with a party of three clerics, a barbarian and a fighter. Here's my preparation and a short look at how it went. It was a very fun night, a bit on the easy side, but with different dice throws it could have been on the very hard side also. I've changed the names of the gods a bit, because of copyright I'm not sure about. But look it up if you need.

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You all meet up in front of the Temple of the Dwarven mother within the town of Horn. The high priest of the Dwarven Mother has asked you to do something about the goblins that are defiling the Temple of Stone, the old temple of Dwarven Mother, that has seen disuse for 4 decades now. The temple in the forest is overrun and the goblins are setting up camp. It’s a crime against the Gods. An acolyte of the temple meets up with you and you follow him on the road, out of the city, into the forest.

After two or three hours of walking, the acolyte points at the bushes and trees, where the old path has been overgrown and is barely visible. He says:

“Good luck with your quest. The temple lies this way beyond the river. I must return to the town.”

You’re now on your own. You look at the others in the party and you see:
Let the party introduce and prepare of spells if needed.

**

One of you is leading you through the forest to the river. Who is this? Roll a survival check until made: DC 12. Every failed check will forward the time with 3 hours.

You arrive at the river and see the temple doors locked in the rocky hillside. Goblin tents are set in front of the temple and a bridge made of rafts that can lead you across the fast stream of the river. Some goblins are keeping watch over this bridge and a palisade of wooden sticks and javelins guard the bridge’s entrance.

What will you do? (If sneaky, surprise attack) roll initiative.

Goblins will try to cut away the rope that binds the bridge together: DC 14.

Every 1d4 turns: 2 goblins come from tents with a maximum of 2 goblins per tent throughout the fight. The tents are destroyable.

Swimming: STR DC 14 to swim.

Rope: DEX DC 12 to walk across the middle rope.

Rope: DC10 attack to hit.

Pulling the rope and bridge towards you: STR 14

Goblins: 7 HP, 15 AC, STR -1, DEX +2, WIS, CHA -1

Scimitar: +1 to hit, 1d6-1 damage. Bow: +4 to hit, 1d6+2 damage.

**

As you enter the temple you see the goblin priest at the far end bashing his 10-feet staff unto the floor tiles. The braziers that are set up next to the basin of water start to glow more fiery. There are two sturdy looking goblins guarding the temple and the priest. Behind the priest are the two statues of Dwarven Mother and Forge Father, and beneath the Dwarven Mother’s statue is an entrance made.

The ceiling is high, about 20 ft up front and 30 ft in the back. There are two pillars holding up the construction.

Roll initiative.

Every 1d4 turns fire oozes spawn from the braziers. 

Goblins: 12 HP, 15 AC, STR -1, DEX +2, WIS, CHA -1

Scimitar: +1 to hit, 1d6-1 damage. Bow: +4 to hit, 1d6+2 damage.

Goblin Priest: 25 HP, 14 AC, STR -1, DEX +2, WIS +2

Staff: 3x touch 10ft Cure Wounds 1d8+2.

Scimitar: +1 to hit, 1d6-1 damage.

Fire Ooze: 10 HP, 12 AC, DEX +2

Fire breath attack: 5ft cone, 1d6+2, dex halves

**

There’s a secret compartment underneath the statue of the Forge Father and the button to open it is the toenail of the statue (Investigation DC 14). Underneath is a Smithing Hammer of the Forge Father with Elven wood handle and the symbol of the Forge Father and the Dwarven Mother engraved in the base. Also can be used has holy symbol.

The Goblin Priest has a 10ft staff with a small orb attached that can deliver touch attacks/heals.

The path to the summit starts within the pedestal underneath the statue of Dwarven Mother, where the stone has been cleared out by the goblins.

**

Guarding the summit are 4 goblins with vials in their hands. They rise about 16 feet above you, on the higher reaches of the hill. There’s some green liquid in the bottles. On the field are some standing stones/monoliths/runestones and on the platform you can see a blackened grey, almost statue-like 11 feet tall goblin with fiery eyes.

What will you do? Roll ini.

Goblins: 10 HP, 12 AC, DEX +2, STR -1, WIS +1.

Poison vial: does 1d6 damage +2 every turn.

Statue of a Goblin God: 90 HP, 16 AC, Str +2, Dex +1, INT -1, Wis -1, Cha -1.

Battle axe: +4 to hit, 1d10+2. Earthquake: 30 ft. ray on the ground. 1d6, Dex save half. SS +1d4 damage, dex negates. Fire bolt: -1 to hit, 1d10 damage-1. When under 20 health: Whirlwind: Battle axe everyone that is in melee range.

He prefers melee.

***

How did it go?

First of all it was a very fun game and I was happy to try this adventure out. Khoth the Barbarian ran towards the bridge, but immediately fell into a ditch when trying to hit the first goblin. The goblins missed a lot of attacks at range, but did make a lot of nice saving throws. The goblin that was critical to the encounter fell in the river with a natural 1 and couldn’t break the rope that tied the two parts together, after which the players pulled the bridge towards them and tied the rope for easier passage. The timer rolled quite high, but it was still a nice fight.

When they entered the temple the Priest summoned the oozes, but they would take 3 turns to spawn. The players got rid of the goblins easy and were already extinguishing the braziers before the timer ran out. The fire oozes never spawned.

The players took a short rest and investigated the temple. Beforehand I had promised myself to interrupt a short rest with bottles of poison, but in the end I decided to hand it to them for the last battle against the statue of the Goblin God.

They ran past the poison throwers, which was expected and began fighting the Goblin God. I rolled low on damage and low on to hit, but I managed to get the earthquake to hit and the whirlwind. The fight was a bit easy though and could maybe have used legendary actions or two attacks to make a bit better.

They defeated the statue and looted treasure. It was a fun night.

***

Things that are not in my write-up:

·         The statue of the Goblin God is the warchief that got blessed into being a statue for his god.

·         The High priest of the Dwarven Mother will give you a reward of golden coins for clearing the temple.

·         As DM, think of physics when toying with the Goblin Bridge. The river stream is quite fast and it will pull on the bridge.

·         If the poison throwers are not defeated, you can let them climb down and flank the players.

edit: I forgot the pictures.