Mystery of the Sea Door Part 16

The hallway to the west is relatively flat, covered in dust, with frescos on the walls of forest scenes and winged elves in the woods. Empty sconces and dark light stones fill niches in the walls.  The door has a giant oak tree upon the face, which seems to grow leaves then loose them in slow rotation. There is some of the strange writing around the top of the door.

For the GM the door is trapped with an odd trap.  If it is tripped, (triggered by not properly disarming the trap on the lock,) vines come out of the walls and wrap around all those near the door, then they slowly begin to squeeze.  Fire, any spells that affect plant life, and chopping at the vines will keep people from being killed.  The lock and trap are moderately hard to unlock and disarm.  The words say "For nature is king", in the ancient elven dialect.

Mystery of the Sea Door Part 15

The former residents of this ruins were priests of many faiths, but mostly of the sun, nature, weather and knowledge.  Each of the doors lead to pocket dimensions that ultimately lead to the other planes if the proper keys are used. (No, the keepers of the desert do not have them, they were in the hands of the guardians of the temple.)  Each pocket dimension celebrated the cardinal directions and an aspect of the world at large.  The elves who inhabited not only the temple, but a village above, studied the stars, nature, and the weather, sharing their knowledge with all who wanted to know.  The keepers are not positive, but they believe the guardians of the ruins were killed by invaders and much of their knowledge carted off, since it's been so long since they had talked to the guardians. (They were in stasis, but they could still keep track of time.)  The keepers were in the oasis long before the guardians of the temple contacted them, but they are descendants of those who were originally there.  On a side note, the keepers will mention the priests were all winged elves, a race not seen in many thousands of years.

For the GM, you can use this knowledge to find the keys to be able to plane hop, sell to a collector, or restore the temple, or even a combination there of.  If a priest in the group wants to restore it, priests of Tymara, Iktomi, Wesa, Catiana and Furere are a good choice.  I have not fleshed out a god of weather, either, so that is always an option for you, as GM, to make up.  Also, this may lead the group to delve more into the winged, or Ancient, elves.

Mystery of the Sea Door Part 14

The door opens to a sandy desert oasis.  The area around the door has palm trees, a small pond, lush plants, even singing birds.  Beyond that is miles of sandy dunes and a bright sun in the sky.  To greet you is a group of humanoids who appear to have jackal heads and are dressed in light, breezy clothing and armed with curved swords.  They glare at you as you enter, their muscles tense and their hands straying toward their weapons.

For the GM, these are guardians of the oasis, protecting a magical font so that no-one takes the water source for their own uses.  They will not attack, unless attacked.  They can be reasoned with and even some knowledge can be learned.  If the group actually talks to them, then have a giant scorpion attack and they can help the guardians.  If they attack the guardians, then make the guardians, (who are jackalweres), two levels higher then the party is, (given that it makes the jackalweres high enough to be an encounter. Either way, take the treasure for a jackalwere.  If you want, add in the treasure for the scorpion.

If they talk to the guardians, the guardians know much about the ruins by the sea and the people who inhabited the ruins.  I will talk about what they know tomorrow.

Mystery of the Sea Door Part 13

The southern hallway slopes down for 30 feet with pictures of oasis, sun and elves in light and airy clothing.  There are sconces that are not lit and light stones that are not working line the hallway in small niches.  The floor is covered in symbols of suns and clouds.  The hallway, like the one leading north, is covered in cobwebs and dust.  It ends in a doorway with a large sun carved upon it with archaic writing around the top of the door.  The door is locked.

For the GM the door is trapped with a fire trap.  The difficulty for the trap and the door lock is moderate to disarm, and the trap is moderately hard to find.  The pressure plate is right under the doorknob.  The damage is fire and will catch other things nearby on fire if they do not make their save. There is an illusion upon the sun to make it shine when someone gets near the door and the words above the door state, "Let us bask in the glory of the sun."

Mystery of the Sea Door Part 12

Once the door is opened, the cavern is strangely icy, ice sprites fluttering here and there.  The sound of winter wolves echo in the distance, the cavern being so large a single torch or light spell can not see it all.  It almost seems larger then what the cliff side can hold.  The wind picks up as you enter the cavern.

For the GM this cavern is an extra-dimensional pocket and has a good 500 acres of ice, frozen trees, and critters that would wander in such an area.  They are in suspension until the door is opened.  This also wakes up the ice elemental that wanders the area.  There is a small treasure of diamonds, coins, and jewelry near a small outpost of trees and a broken down cabin near the middle of the cavern.