Blood, Gears, and Gold

Date: Feb 6th, 2026

Summary

The party emerged from the dense jungle to find themselves standing before an ancient, moss-covered pyramid temple reminiscent of Mayan architecture. The structure rose approximately thirty feet into the humid air, its wide stone steps—each about five feet in height—covered in vines and vegetation that spoke of centuries of abandonment. They sent Jeremy, their owl companion, to scout overhead, and he returned with news of a door on the opposite side of the temple, closer to the top, with vines that appeared to have been recently snapped, suggesting someone had entered months or perhaps years ago. To avoid leaving tracks in the jungle floor, the party climbed one or two levels of the massive stone steps and carefully traversed around the side of the pyramid.

Upon reaching the front of the temple, they discovered a fifteen-foot platform before a towering stone door. Above the entrance were three carved stone heads—a Drow, a Wood Elf, and a High Elf—each labeled in ancient Elvish script. At the base of the door sat a basin inscribed with the word “Sinsinsin,” which they recognized as meaning “without” in ancient languages. The Goliath member of the party lifted another companion onto his shoulders to inspect the heads more closely, discovering they appeared to be pushable buttons. Through their knowledge of Elvish lore, they connected the puzzle to Corellon, the chief deity of the Elvish pantheon, and the legend of how the three elven races were born from his blood during his battle with Gruumsh, the orcish god.

After careful deliberation, the party deduced the order they would press the heads based on the chronological creation of the elven races: High Elf first, then Wood Elf, and finally Drow. Their half-elf companion then spilled their own blood into the basin marked “Sinsinsin,” and with a tremendous rumble, the massive stone door slowly opened. Beyond lay a small, dark chamber containing another door—this one made of solid gold and standing fifteen feet tall. A small hole near the top of the golden door caught their attention, and moments later, a monkey appeared, hanging from a vine near the opening.

The monkey, who introduced himself as Longtail, offered to open the door in exchange for food. The party obliged, sharing nuts and dried fruit from their rations, which Longtail eagerly accepted before scampering through the hole. The entire room shook as the golden door rumbled open, revealing a vast chamber beyond. Longtail explained that he had been living in the temple for a couple of years, opening the door for adventurers in exchange for food and closing it after they left. He described a machine that once stood in the room—an orrery that had long since been removed—and mentioned holes in the ceiling that once contained snakes, though now only dead ones remained.

The party explored the large chamber and discovered a five-foot-square hole in the center of the floor, partially obscured by machinery. One member attempted to climb down into the opening but slipped on a large gear, nearly falling into the grinding mechanism below. Another party member quickly grabbed their hand, preventing a fatal plunge, and helped them swing to a nearby scaffolding platform. Using ropes, the rest of the party carefully descended past the massive, free-spinning mithril gears into a vast chamber filled with intricate machinery. They noticed timing marks on the gears, suggesting they were part of a complex lunar or solar cycle mechanism.

Descending further via a staircase, they reached a trapezoid-shaped room containing mithril grinding machines and carts, all forged as single pieces without any visible bolts or seams. The walls of the machinery chamber were covered in extensive ancient Elvish writing, which appeared to be instructions related to timing and a system reset lever. They found a mithril ball-peen hammerhead and several iron pickaxes with surprisingly fresh-looking wooden handles, suggesting either recent activity or magical preservation. The party began copying sections of the vast Elvish text onto parchment, hoping to decipher it later or bring it to their employer, John Harrison.

Continuing their exploration, they entered a cavern system with multiple branching paths. A breeze drew their attention to a crack in one wall, and their rock-aligned companion identified a hidden mechanism—a rock that could be pushed to reveal a passage. After carefully checking for traps and finding dart holes in the wall, they crouched low and activated the mechanism. A hidden passage opened, leading to a massive circular chamber with a perfectly level, opaque glass floor supported by four glass pillars. In the center of the room, a large stone tablet was suspended halfway through the glass, as if the glass had been transmuted around it. The sound of rushing water echoed from the darkness below.

The tablet bore ancient Elvish writing at the top and plainer Elvish in the middle, describing the hero’s journey of a man who was part god. One of the party members used their magical abilities to examine the room, discovering that the four pillars bore glowing runes corresponding to elemental magic: red and green for fire, brown and green for earth, yellow and purple for air, and blue and orange for water. They deduced that the pillars needed to be activated in a specific elemental order. However, when they attempted the sequence, they made an error, and the glass floor began to slowly descend, phasing through the rock walls as it went.

The tablet fell into a pool of water six feet below the original floor level, and the glass continued its descent into the darkness. The party watched as the floor disappeared from view, taking several minutes to reach the bottom. When it finally reappeared at the top, a piece of parchment they had dropped to test the mechanism did not return with it, suggesting the elevator was one-way. After much debate about the nature of the glass—which phased through rock but supported their weight—they devised a plan to retrieve the tablet. They would activate the correct elemental sequence to lower the floor, then use ropes to pull the heavy marble tablet onto the descending glass and slide it to the edge.

One party member used ice magic to freeze the rushing water, creating a canopy and stable footholds in the slippery rock wall. The party climbed the makeshift ice staircase and, one by one, jumped onto the solid ground above the glass floor, though one member nearly fell and had to be caught. They then executed their plan, activating the pillars in the correct order: earth, air, fire, and water. As the glass floor descended, they pulled the rope, dragging the heavy tablet onto the glass and sliding it toward the edge. When the rope snagged between two rocks, one member reached out to free it, and together they hauled the massive tablet to safety.

With the tablet secured, the party decided to explore the remaining paths in the cavern system. They took the left path first, descending through a tunnel filled with roots and growing quartz crystals. After about ten minutes of travel, they reached a dead end: a massive wall of solid quartz blocking further progress. They could hear rushing water from beyond the wall, suggesting an underground river, but the quartz was too thick to easily breach. They collected some quartz crystals and returned to the intersection to explore the right path.

The right path led them to a large chamber where the acoustics were strangely dead, with no echo whatsoever. The walls, floor, and ceiling were covered in a thick, red, metallic-smelling substance that resembled blood. Ancient mithril machines were merged into the walls, as if the entire structure had sunk or been transmuted into the rock. When they touched the substance, it began to seep onto their gear and crawl up their boots, revealing itself to be a living ooze. The party quickly used torches and oil-soaked cloths, ignited by magic, to create temporary flaming paths and escape the encroaching ooze, which slowly receded from the fire.

Returning to the second fork, they explored the final path and discovered a door made of fused crystalline humanoid bones, with a glowing blue crack running beneath it. The crack was identified as a magical ley line, a conduit of pure magical energy. When they opened the door using a mithril wheel handle, they found a round chamber containing four black, floating obelisks carved with golden runes, and in the center, a mass of blood suspended in mid-air as if held by an invisible container. A voice from the ley line asked, “What are you doing here?” and when they replied “Learning,” it responded, “Me too.”

At that moment, a drow wizard named Xavriel appeared, his white hair and arrogant demeanor immediately setting the party on edge. He explained that he had been tracking the temple for some time and knew about the suspended blood, which he called “pure life substance.” Xavriel revealed that the blood was draining the life force of everything in the area and could be transmuted into other substances, such as gold, or used to create immortality—a philosopher’s stone. He demonstrated by drawing a marble-sized droplet of blood from the suspended mass, which flashed green and solidified into a red marble in his hand, confirming it was a limited-use philosopher’s stone.

Xavriel then commanded the blood ooze from the adjacent hallway, pushing it into a drain. After the ooze was cleared, the party discovered an immovable rod hovering over the drain, which they claimed. Xavriel offered to create more philosopher’s stones for the party, and he successfully made one that functioned as a protective charm and another that could heal wounds. However, when he attempted to create a third, it turned one party member’s hand into solid gold upon contact. In a desperate act, the affected member had their hand severed to prevent the transmutation from spreading further. Xavriel levitated the dangerous golden philosopher’s stone and placed it on a pedestal, encasing it in glass for safety, before creating a final healing stone for the party. With their exploration complete and several powerful magical items in hand, the party prepared to leave the temple, their minds filled with questions about the ancient civilization that had created such wonders and the mysterious forces still at work within its depths.

Short

The party discovered an ancient moss-covered pyramid temple and solved an elaborate entrance puzzle involving three carved elven heads and a basin inscribed with “Sinsinsin” (meaning “without”). Using their knowledge of Elvish lore and Corellon’s mythology, they pressed the heads in chronological order of elven creation—High Elf, Wood Elf, then Drow—and their half-elf companion spilled blood into the basin, opening the massive stone door. Inside, they befriended a monkey named Longtail who had been living in the temple for years, opening doors for adventurers in exchange for food. The party then descended through a complex system of massive mithril gears and machinery, discovering ancient Elvish instructions and evidence of a sophisticated lunar or solar cycle mechanism. They navigated to a hidden circular chamber with a glass floor and four elemental pillars, where they retrieved a suspended stone tablet describing a hero’s journey by activating the pillars in the correct sequence and using ice magic and ropes to secure the heavy artifact.

Exploring further into the cavern system, the party encountered a dead-end wall of solid quartz and a chamber filled with a living blood ooze that had consumed ancient mithril machines, which they escaped using fire. They discovered a chamber containing four floating black obelisks and a mass of suspended blood identified as “pure life substance” by a drow wizard named Xavriel, who revealed it was draining life force from the area and could be transmuted into a philosopher’s stone capable of creating gold or granting immortality. Xavriel demonstrated by creating several philosopher’s stones with varying effects—some protective and healing, but one catastrophically turned a party member’s hand to solid gold, forcing an emergency amputation to prevent the transmutation from spreading. After Xavriel safely contained the dangerous stone and created a final healing stone for the party, they prepared to leave the temple with powerful magical items and an immovable rod they had recovered, their minds filled with questions about the ancient civilization and mysterious forces within.

Classic

Last we left off, our intrepid adventurers emerged from the dense jungle to discover an ancient moss-covered pyramid temple rising thirty feet into the humid air. After solving an intricate puzzle involving the three elven races and the legend of Corellon’s battle with Gruumsh, they gained entry to the temple’s inner sanctum. With the help of Longtail, a resourceful monkey who had made the temple his home, they descended past massive mithril gears into a vast chamber filled with ancient machinery and Elvish inscriptions. Their exploration led them through treacherous caverns, where they navigated a magical glass elevator, retrieved a mysterious stone tablet, and narrowly escaped a living blood ooze that had consumed entire sections of the ancient structure.

Their journey took a dangerous turn when they discovered a chamber containing four floating black obelisks and a mass of suspended blood—pure life substance capable of transmutation. There they encountered Xavriel, an arrogant drow wizard who revealed the blood’s terrible power: it could create philosopher’s stones of immense magical potency. After Xavriel demonstrated this ability, the party accepted his offer to craft stones for them. However, the third attempt went catastrophically wrong, turning one party member’s hand to solid gold and forcing a desperate amputation to prevent the transmutation from spreading further.

Now, with several powerful magical items secured, a severed golden hand as a grim reminder of the temple’s dangers, and more questions than answers about the ancient civilization that built these wonders, the party prepares to leave the depths of the pyramid. But as they stand in that chamber of floating obelisks with a mysterious drow wizard and a voice from the ley line still echoing in their minds, one must wonder: what other secrets does this temple hold, and what price will they pay for the knowledge they’ve gained?

Middle English

Harken well, ye gentlefolk brave, Of heroes bold who temple’s secrets crave; Through jungle dense to pyramid they came, Where moss-clad stones did whisper ancient fame! With Jeremy the owl sent forth to spy, They climbed great steps that reached unto the sky.

Three elven heads in stone above the door, A riddle old from Corellon’s lore; High Elf, then Wood, then Drow in order pressed, And half-elf’s blood the basin did invest. The golden gate by Longtail monkey freed, For nuts and fruit, a simple monkey’s need!

Through grinding gears of mithril bright they fell, Past machinery that time could not dispel; A glass-floored chamber with four pillars grand, Where elemental runes did make their stand. The tablet heavy from the waters drawn, With ice and rope, ere break of dawn!

Through caverns deep where quartz did block the way, And blood-red ooze did seek them as its prey; With torch and flame they drove the creature back, And found the door of bones upon their track. Four obelisks of black with golden script, Where life’s pure blood in air was tightly gripped!

Then Xavriel the drow with magic dire, Did draw the blood and set their hearts afire; Philosopher’s stones both blessed and cursed he made, One turned to gold a hand, the price was paid! With severed limb and treasures won through strife, They left the temple, changed by ancient life!

Snarky

Welcome to the most NORMAL D&D session: where solving an ancient elven blood puzzle is just the warm-up act before accidentally turning your hand into solid gold. The party stumbled upon a moss-covered pyramid temple that screamed “definitely not a trap,” complete with a puzzle requiring knowledge of Corellon’s divine drama with Gruumsh and a basin that literally translates to “without without without” because ancient elves were apparently really into emphasizing their point. After bleeding into said basin (as one does), they met Longtail, a capitalist monkey who’s been running a door-opening service for YEARS in exchange for snacks, which is honestly the most sustainable business model anyone’s found in this temple.

Things escalated from “carefully copying ancient texts” to “ice-climbing over a phasing glass elevator” to “escaping a sentient blood ooze” faster than you can say “philosopher’s stone.” Then Xavriel the drow wizard showed up like he owned the place, casually revealed the temple contains a floating mass of pure life essence that’s been draining the jungle, and started handing out magical items like party favors. Sure, one of those items immediately transmuted someone’s hand into gold and required emergency amputation, but hey, they also got an immovable rod and some healing stones out of the deal! Nothing says “successful dungeon crawl” like leaving with fewer body parts than you entered with but MORE magical artifacts. Peak adventuring energy.

Limerick

The party found a temple of stone, With puzzles and secrets unknown. They pressed elven heads right, Spilled blood in the night, And a monkey let them pass on their own.

Through gears made of mithril they fell, Past machinery working so well. A glass floor they found, With a tablet around, And ice magic saved them from hell.

They wandered through caverns so deep, Where oozes of blood tried to creep. With torches aflame, They escaped the red claim, And found magic too precious to keep.

A drow wizard named Xavriel appeared, With blood magic the party all feared. He made stones of great power, But in one fateful hour, A hand turned to gold—how they jeered!

The philosopher’s stones they did gain, Though one cost them terrible pain. With treasures in tow, From the temple they’d go, With questions and wonders to explain.

Memorable Moments

The party solves an ancient Elvish puzzle by pushing three stone heads in the correct order and spilling elven blood into a basin, causing a massive stone door to rumble open.

After deducing the lore of Corellon and the creation of the elven races, the party successfully opens the temple entrance.

A party member’s hand turns to solid gold after touching an experimental philosopher’s stone, leading to a desperate attempt to sever the affected limb.

Xavriel creates an unstable philosopher’s stone that transmutes flesh to gold on contact, causing panic.

The glass floor disappears, dropping a priceless ancient tablet into a pool of water far below, forcing the party to devise a risky retrieval plan.

After incorrectly activating the elemental pillars, the magical glass floor vanishes, and the tablet falls.

A mysterious voice from a magical ley line asks the party, ‘What are you doing here?’ and responds ‘me too’ when told they are learning.

The party encounters a sentient ley line beneath a crystalline door, hinting at deeper mysteries.

The party successfully retrieves a heavy marble tablet from a descending magical elevator using ropes, ice magic, and precise coordination.

After understanding the elevator’s mechanics, the party works together to pull the tablet to safety.

Scenes

Arrival at the Mayan Temple

The party arrives at an ancient, overgrown Mayan-style pyramid temple and begins exploring its exterior.

The party approaches a large, moss-covered Mayan-style pyramid temple with wide, five-foot-tall stairs.
Jeremy, an owl companion, is sent to scout overhead and discovers a door on the opposite side of the temple, closer to the top.
Signs of recent passage are noted near the door, with snapped vines suggesting someone entered months or years ago.
The party decides to traverse the temple’s stone steps to avoid leaving tracks on the jungle floor, climbing one or two levels and walking around the side.

The Elven Puzzle Door

The party reaches a 15x15 foot platform in front of the temple’s main door, which is 15 feet tall and made of stone.
Three stone heads are carved above the door: a Drow, a Wood Elf, and a High Elf, each with Elvish writing beneath them.
A basin built into the floor in front of the door has the word ‘Sinsinsin’ written on it in Common, which means ‘without’ in ancient languages.
A party member, lifted by a Goliath, inspects the heads and discovers they appear to be pushable buttons.
Through a religion check, the party connects the heads and basin to the Elvish pantheon, specifically Corellon, and the origin of the elven races from his blood during a conflict with Gruumsh.
The party deduces the correct order to push the elven heads (High Elf, Wood Elf, Drow) based on the lore of their creation.
A half-elf party member spills their own blood into the basin marked ‘Sinsinsin’.
Upon the blood entering the basin, the massive stone door of the temple slowly opens.

The Monkey and the Golden Door

Inside the temple, the party encounters a small room with a golden door and a mischievous monkey who helps them open it in exchange for food.

The party enters a small, dark room (20x30 feet) with a 15-foot-high solid golden door and a small hole at the top.
A monkey named Longtail appears from a vine near the hole and offers to open the door for food.
The party feeds Longtail nuts and dried fruit from their rations.
Longtail climbs through the hole, and the golden door rumbles open, revealing a large room beyond.
Longtail reveals he opens the door for adventurers and closes it after they leave to secure more food, and has been doing this for a couple of years.
Longtail describes a former orrery in the room and mentions holes in the ceiling that used to contain snakes when the machine was active, but now only dead snakes remain.

Descent into the Machinery

The party explores a large chamber that once housed an orrery, discovering a deep pit filled with intricate machinery and nearly suffering a fatal accident.

The party discovers a 5x5 foot hole in the center of the room, leading down into complex machinery.
A party member attempts to climb down the hole but slips on a large gear, nearly falling into the grinding mechanism.
Another party member quickly grabs their hand, preventing them from being pulled deeper into the gears and helping them to a nearby scaffolding platform.
The party uses ropes to safely descend past the large, spinning gears into a vast chamber filled with mithril machinery.
They discover scaffolding within the chamber, suggesting it was used for maintenance.
A party member identifies timing marks on the mithril gears, indicating a starting position related to a lunar or solar cycle.

The Mithril Workshop

The party reaches the bottom of the machinery chamber, finding a room with mithril grinding machines, carts, and an opening to a cavern.

The party descends a staircase from the machinery room, finding grinding machines and carts made of pure mithril.
They discover a cavern opening with a track leading into it, made of iron remnants that have mostly disintegrated.
The party finds a mithril ball-peen hammerhead and several iron pickaxes with fresh-looking wooden handles, suggesting recent activity or magical preservation.
Characters attempt to salvage parts from the mithril carts but find them to be single, forged pieces without bolts.
The party discovers ancient Elvish writing covering the walls of the machinery room, which appears to be instructions related to timing and a system reset lever.
Characters begin copying sections of the extensive Elvish text onto parchment for later study.

Discovery of the Hidden Glass Room

Exploring a cavern, the party discovers a hidden passage behind a rock wall, leading to a room with a glass floor, four pillars, and a suspended tablet.

The party explores a cavern with two paths, noticing a breeze coming from a wall.
A rock golem character examines the crack, noting space beyond it and identifying a rock that can be pushed, suggesting a hidden mechanism.
A perception check reveals small holes in the wall, indicating potential dart traps if the mechanism is activated.
The party carefully pushes the rock mechanism, avoiding detected traps, and a hidden passage opens.
The passage leads to a large room with a perfectly level, opaque glass floor, four glass pillars, and a stone tablet suspended halfway through the glass.
The tablet has ancient Elvish writing at the top and plain Elvish in the middle, describing a hero’s journey of a man who was part-god.
The sound of a waterfall is heard from below the glass floor, and darkness is visible beneath.

The Elemental Puzzle and the Falling Tablet

The party attempts to solve an elemental puzzle involving four pillars, but an incorrect sequence causes the glass floor to disappear, dropping a valuable tablet into a pool below.

A character uses Detect Magic and Arcana to identify magical runes on the pillars, which glow with specific color combinations (red/green, brown/green, yellow/purple, blue/orange).
The character deduces that the runes correspond to elemental celestials and an elemental order (Earth, Air, Fire, Water).
The party attempts to activate the pillars in the correct order, but an incorrect sequence is used.
A character casts Shape Water on the blue and orange pillar (water element), causing it to light up and the glass floor to slowly lower and then disappear.
The tablet falls into a pool of water six feet below the glass floor.
The glass floor reappears after the tablet has fallen, trapping the party members who were on it in the pool below.

Testing the Magical Elevator

Trapped in a pool beneath the reappeared glass floor, the party struggles to understand the elevator’s mechanics and devise a plan to retrieve the fallen tablet.

The party discusses the difficulty of retrieving the heavy tablet from the pool while the glass floor continues to lower.
They attempt to tie a rope around the tablet, but the floor’s movement and the tablet’s weight make it challenging.
The party decides to observe the elevator’s behavior rather than risk immediate retrieval.
The glass floor descends out of sight, and a previously dropped piece of paper does not return, suggesting a one-way trip.
After several minutes, the glass floor reappears at the top, confirming its elevator function.
The party debates the nature of the glass floor, considering if it’s an elevator or a trap, and discusses the peculiar nature of the glass, noting it phases through rock but not living beings or inanimate objects like the rope.

Escaping the Pool and Retrieving the Tablet

After confirming the glass floor’s elevator function, the party successfully gets everyone off the platform and devises a plan to safely retrieve the tablet.

The party decides to get everyone off the glass floor before attempting to retrieve the tablet.
A character uses magic to freeze the rushing water, forming a dry canopy above and creating a more stable staircase of ice footholds.
Party members climb carved footholds and use ropes to get off the descending glass floor, with one character making a precarious jump and nearly falling before being saved.
They plan to use the correct elemental code to lower the elevator, pull the tablet onto it, and then raise it back up.
The party coordinates to lower the glass floor using the correct code, then pulls the heavy stone tablet onto the descending glass using ropes.
A character reaches out to free the rope from a snag, allowing the tablet to be pulled safely onto the top level as the glass floor continues its descent.
The party successfully retrieves the large, heavy marble tablet, securing it before it descends out of reach.

Exploration of the Left Path

The party explores a left-hand path, discovering a long tunnel filled with roots and growing quartz crystals, which eventually leads to a dead end blocked by a massive quartz wall.

The party decides to explore the left pathway from the main intersection.
They traverse a long tunnel with roots protruding from the walls and cracks in the floor.
As they go deeper, they encounter growing quartz crystals emerging from the cracks.
A character uses a pickaxe to take a cluster or two of the quartz crystals.
The path ends abruptly at a giant wall of solid quartz, blocking further progress.
They hear rushing water from beyond the quartz wall, suggesting an underground river.
A character attempts to chip away at the quartz wall with a war hammer but finds it too thick and solid to easily breach.

Encountering the Ooze-Filled Cavern

The party explores another path that leads to a large cavern coated in a viscous, blood-like ooze that smells of metal and absorbs sound, causing a frantic retreat.

The party returns to the intersection and takes the right path.
They enter a large room where the walls are covered in a thick, red, blood-like residue that smells coppery.
The room has unusual acoustics, completely dampening sound and creating no echo.
The party discovers ancient mithril elven machines that appear to be merged into the stone walls.
Upon touching the residue, it begins to seep onto their gear and crawl up their boots, revealing it to be a living ooze.
The party uses torches and oil-soaked cloths, lit by prestidigitation, to create a path and escape the encroaching ooze, retreating to a safe distance.
The ooze is observed to slowly recede from fire and follow the party, but at a pace that allows them to outwalk it.

The Crystalline Bone Door and Ley Line

The party discovers a door made of crystalline bone with a glowing ley line beneath it, leading to a chamber with floating obelisks and suspended blood.

The party returns to the second fork and explores the right path, finding a door made of crystalline humanoid bones.
A glowing blue crystalline crack, identified as a magical ley line of Evocation magic, runs beneath the door.
They hear gurgling noises from beyond the door, but detect no magic on the door itself.
Upon turning a mithril wheel handle, the door opens to reveal a round room with four black, floating, slowly spinning obelisks.
In the center of the room, blood is suspended in the air, taking the shape of a six-sided glass container, with a hole in the ceiling dripping into it.
A character casts Detect Magic, revealing all described elements are magical, and the obelisks emanate enchantment magic.
A voice from the ley line asks, ‘What are you doing here?’ and responds ‘me too’ when a character says ‘Learning’.

Xavriel and the Philosopher’s Stone

A drow wizard named Xavriel appears, revealing his knowledge of the chamber’s contents and demonstrating the creation of a philosopher’s stone from the suspended blood, leading to a dangerous experiment.

A drow wizard named Xavriel, with white hair and an arrogant demeanor, approaches the party, stating he can feel the energy and knows what’s inside.
Xavriel reveals he has been tracking the location and knows about the suspended blood, which he identifies as ‘pure life substance’ that can be transmuted.
He explains that the blood substance is draining the life of everything in the area, and can be changed into other things, like gold, or used for immortality, calling it a philosopher’s stone.
Xavriel demonstrates by drawing a marble-sized droplet of blood from the suspended mass, which flashes green and solidifies into a red marble in his hand.
He confirms it is a philosopher’s stone, limited in power, and gives it to a party member.
Xavriel then commands the blood ooze from the adjacent hallway, pushing it into a drain.
An immovable rod is discovered hovering over the drain after the ooze is cleared.
Xavriel attempts to create another philosopher’s stone, which turns a character’s hand into gold upon contact, leading to the hand being severed.
He levitates the dangerous golden Philosopher’s Stone and places it on a pedestal, encasing it in glass for safety.
Xavriel then creates a third philosopher’s stone for another party member, which functions as a limited-use ‘Cure Wounds’ item.

NPCs

Drow Princess Candola

A Drow princess who previously gave the party a spider token, mentioned in passing as the source of the token.

Longtail

A mischievous monkey who lives in the temple, opening and closing the golden door for adventurers in exchange for food. He has been doing this for a couple of years and is knowledgeable about the temple’s past features, such as a missing orrery and carved walls.

Gruumsh

The orcish god, known as ‘Old One Eye’ after Corellon stabbed out one of his eyes. His spilled blood during a fight with Corellon is believed to be the origin of the three Elven races, as discussed by the party while solving the puzzle.

Corellon

The chief deity of the Elvish pantheon, whose spilled blood during a conflict with Gruumsh is said to have given rise to the three Elven races, as discussed by the party while solving the puzzle.

Xavriel

An arrogant drow wizard with white hair, wearing robes. He is tracking the temple and is deeply interested in the magical properties of the blood ooze and the Philosopher’s Stone. He is knowledgeable about ancient Elvish and alchemy, capable of creating philosopher’s stones, though some are experimental. He views the party as potentially ‘helpful’ (disposable minions) for his research, but also capable of creating powerful magical items.

John Harrison

An individual mentioned by the party as their employer or quest-giver, to whom they intend to report their findings, including the copied text of the ancient tablet.

Locations

Mayan Temple

An ancient, overgrown pyramid-style temple with wide, moss-covered stone stairs, located in a humid jungle. It features a large stone door with elven carvings and a basin.

Temple Entrance Room

A small, dark chamber (20x30 feet) immediately inside the temple, containing a massive golden door with a small hole at its top, and a resident monkey named Longtail.

Orrery Chamber

A large room beyond the golden door that previously housed an orrery. It contains three buttons on the side of the door and a central 5x5 foot hole leading to lower machinery.

Machinery Chamber

A vast, dark chamber beneath the orrery room, filled with intricate, free-spinning mithril gears and scaffolding. The walls are covered in ancient Elvish writing that appears to be instructions related to timing and a system reset lever.

Mithril Workshop

A trapezoid-shaped room at the bottom of the machinery chamber, containing mithril grinding machines, mithril carts on a track, and an opening to a vast, dark cavern.

Cave System (T-junction)

A large, dark cavern encountered after descending from the temple’s machinery room. It features multiple paths and a mysterious breeze from a hidden wall.

Hidden Glass Room

A vast, circular chamber with a floor made of opaque glass, supported by four glass pillars. The walls are natural rock, and a large stone tablet is suspended halfway through the glass floor. The sound of a powerful waterfall can be heard from the darkness below.

Pool/Divot

A water-filled depression within the Glass Floor Room where the tablet landed after the glass floor initially disappeared. Water rushes down into it from the surrounding rock.

Left Path (Crystal Cavern)

A descending tunnel characterized by roots protruding from the walls, cracks in the floor, and an increasing presence of naturally grown quartz crystals. It leads to a dead end blocked by a massive quartz wall, with sounds of rushing water emanating from behind it.

Ooze-Filled Cavern

A large, acoustically dead room with walls, floor, and ceiling covered in a thick, red, metallic-smelling, blood-like ooze that is alive and attempts to consume anything it touches. Ancient mithril machines are merged into the walls.

Crystalline Bone Door Chamber

A round room accessed through a door made of crystalline humanoid bones, featuring four black, floating obelisks with gold runes and a central, invisible container holding suspended blood, with a ley line running beneath the entrance.

Items

Spider Token

A small token from Drow Princess Candola, believed to prevent harm if the party ventures deeper into the temple.

Salindra’s Comb

A comb given by Salindra, used by a party member to compare its stylistic engravings with the Elvish writing on the temple’s heads and basin.

Ration Block

A block of preserved food, containing hardtack, nuts, and dried fruits. It was used to feed Longtail the monkey.

Golden Door

A massive, 15-foot-high door made of solid gold, encountered within the temple’s first room. It has a small hole at the top and is opened by a monkey from the other side.

Warhammer

A heavy, two-handed hammer used by a party member. It was illuminated by a ‘Light’ cantrip to provide illumination in dark areas.

Torch

A source of light used by the party to illuminate dark areas, particularly when descending into the machinery room.

Scaffolding

A temporary structure of platforms within the machinery room, seemingly used for working on the large gears and mechanisms.

Mithril Carts

Carts found on a lower level of the temple, made entirely of pure mithril. They appear to be forged as single pieces, making them difficult to dismantle, and are part of a track system leading into a cavern.

Mithril Hammerhead

A small, ball-peen hammerhead made of mithril, found among the machinery. Its wooden handle has long since disintegrated, but the mithril head remains intact and remarkably light.

Iron Pickaxes

Several well-preserved iron pickaxes with fresh-looking wooden handles, found near the mithril carts. Their condition suggests either recent use or some form of magical preservation.

Parchment

Sheets of parchment used by the party to copy sections of ancient Elvish writing found on the walls of the machinery room and on the retrieved tablet.

Mithril Grinding Machines

Large machines in the lower temple level, also made of mithril, appearing to be forged as single pieces. They seem designed for grinding or tunneling.

Stone Tablet

A large, heavy marble tablet, approximately three feet by two feet and several inches thick, inscribed with ancient Elvish writing. It was found suspended halfway through the magical glass floor and later retrieved by the party using ropes and coordinated effort. Its text is believed to contain significant lore or instructions.

Rope

Several lengths of rope used by the party to secure and retrieve the heavy stone tablet from the descending glass floor, and to assist party members in navigating the slippery ascent.

Parchment Paper

A crumpled piece of paper used by the party to test the descent and reappearance of the magical glass floor.

Pickaxe

A tool used by a character to attempt to chip away at a rock wall, creating footholds in a chamber with rushing water, and later to test the thickness of the quartz wall.

Quartz Crystals

Naturally grown quartz crystals found in the left path tunnel, some of which were collected by a party member using a pickaxe.

Tinderbox

A container holding cloth soaked in light oil, used by party members to create temporary flaming paths to escape the viscous ooze.

Mithril Elven Machines

Ancient machines made of mithril, found merged into the walls of a tunnel. They appear to be part of the tunnel’s structure, suggesting a past event where the civilization literally sank or merged with the rock.

Crystalline Bone Door

A sealed, submarine-like door made of fused crystalline humanoid bones, with a wheel handle, found in a cavern. It conceals a magical chamber.

Black Floating Obelisks

Four large, black obelisks suspended in mid-air within a round chamber, slowly spinning. They are carved with golden runes and emanate enchantment magic.

Suspended Blood

A viscous, blood-like substance held in an invisible, six-sided container in the center of the Chamber of Floating Obelisks, with more of the substance dripping into it from the ceiling. Xavriel identifies it as ‘pure life substance’ that can be transmuted.

Xavriel’s Book

A dusty tome containing ancient Elvish writing and illustrations related to the temple and the blood substance, which Xavriel uses for his research.

Philosopher’s Stone (Glenn’s)

A red, marble-sized magical item created by Xavriel from the blood substance. It is inert but contains limited magical energy, described as a ‘pearl of power’ that can imbue magic.

Immovable Rod

A metal rod with a button that, when pressed, causes it to become immovably fixed in space. It was found hovering over a drain after Xavriel cleared the blood ooze.

Philosopher’s Stone (Gold-Turning)

An experimental philosopher’s stone created by Xavriel that, upon contact, transmutes objects into solid gold. It caused a character’s hand to turn gold, which was then severed.

Philosopher’s Stone (Cure Wounds)

A magical item created by Xavriel that functions as a limited-use Cure Wounds spell. It has a certain number of charges before it dissipates.

Marvel of Three Wishes (Philosopher’s Stone)

A Philosopher’s Stone created by Xavriel and given to a party member. It is equivalent to a Ring of Protection but has a limited lifespan and might break at some point.

Spells

Guidance

A spell used to assist party members in various checks, including perception and dexterity saves, by providing a small bonus to their rolls.

Light

A cantrip used to illuminate objects, such as a staff, a warhammer, or a piece of parchment, providing a portable light source for the party in dark environments.

Speak with Animals

A spell cast to communicate with the monkey, Longtail, allowing the party to understand its request for food and learn about the temple.

Detect Magic

A spell used to identify magical auras, revealing the ley line beneath the crystalline door, the obelisks, the suspended blood in the chamber, and the philosopher’s stones.

Shape Water

A spell used to manipulate water, employed to activate one of the elemental pillars, and later to create a canopy and staircase of ice to aid movement in the chamber with rushing water.

Prestidigitation

A minor magical effect used to light small fires, specifically to ignite oil-soaked cloths to create a temporary path through the viscous ooze.

Cure Wounds

A healing spell, mentioned as the effect of one of the philosopher’s stones created by Xavriel, and used to heal a player after their hand was severed.

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session-2026-02-06