The Hidden Shrine of Tamoachan - Tales from the Yawning Portal: The Hidden Shrine of Tamoachan

The Hidden Shrine of Tamoachan. The ancient ruined city of Tamoachan is familiar to a select few scholars and fortune seekers, who know of it but not always exactly where it is. Even more secluded, lying somewhere within or beneath the ruins, is a hidden shrine said to be dedicated to Zotzilaha, the vampire god of the underworld. Adventurers who catch wind of the place are likely to find its lure irresistible. If the characters find their way to the environs of the ruined city, their next order of business might be to set up a camp nearby. After a few hours of searching, they can find an easily defended glade with an artesian spring. Most of the city is toppled and almost completely covered in undergrowth. Intruders who enter the ruins will discover that the ancient streets now serve as overgrown "valleys" between the debris of the crumbled buildings. The largest of these valleys all lead to the central clearing where a great pyramid stands. In the south side of that clearing is a newly collapsed area, revealing a jagged hole with a debris-covered slide, leading down into darkness. Placing the Adventure In the original adventure, set in the world of Greyhawk, the Hidden Shrine is part of the ancient ruined city of Tamoachan, once the northernmost capital of the Olman empire. The civilization of the Olman people covered much of the southern continent centuries before current history began. Tamoachan is located in the savage lands south of the Olman Islands and southeast of the Holds of the Sea Princes. The climate is subtropical and very damp; it rains nearly every afternoon. In other worlds, similar possibilities can be found. Dragonlance The hidden shrine might not be part of an ancient city on Krynn, but instead an isolated temple for a weird dead cult devoted to the god Chemosh. The site could date back to the Age of Dreams, and might be on an isle or in an isolated region near the Blood Sea of Istar. Eberron On Eberron, the site might be the ancient seat of a...