Another temple stands in the center of the canyon.
A hidden cave in the surrounding jungle can serve as a sheltered resting place near the ruins.
A steep ravine in the surrounding jungle forms another dangerous feature of the area.
A winding cave passage leads down into the canyon below.
The canyon floor is dense, humid jungle inhabited by large dinosaurs and coordinated pack hunters.
The canyon is permeated by necromantic energy that can cause dead creatures and bodies to rise as undead.
The canyon walls contain veins of rich silver ore in at least some places.
The final approach to the temple may be hidden beneath massive overgrowth, with ancient stone steps buried under foliage.
The temple at the canyon center is an ancient moss-covered pyramid with wide stone steps covered in vines.
Around halfway up, the stairs include pressure plates set on every other step. 2022-02-16 Session 3
The entrance includes a door marked with three heads: a drow, a wood elf, and a high elf.
A blood-filled basin can open the way inward.
A monkey called Longtail has lived in part of the temple and can open the inner golden door for food.
The deeper temple contains mithril machinery chambers, hidden passages, a glass elevator chamber, a living blood ooze, and a ley-line chamber containing suspended pure life substance.
The central temple functions as a life-force extraction and refinement site, drawing on surrounding vitality for dangerous magical work.
The site contains an opening that appears to connect toward the Underdark. See Underdark Entrances.
Xavriel was found in the sanctum and was using the temple’s inner workings to refine Philosopher’s Stones.
The temple is tied to strange undead side effects in the surrounding canyon, including a zombie T-Rex encountered just outside after the party’s departure.
The orrery was later removed and reassembled at John Harrison’s.
History
During the events of the 2022-02-09 Session 2 report, the party learned from Jax of an ancient temple in the forest connected to an ancient people. 2022-02-09 Session 2
After surviving the jungle and the attack of the giant tyrannosaurus zombie, the party fled and eventually arrived in front of a temple with a large golden orb at the top. 2022-02-09 Session 2
Later clarification established that this temple was part of the larger site now referred to as Bone Speaker Ruins.
At some later point, three adventurers entered the temple and recovered the golden orrery.
During the events of 2022-02-16 Session 3, the party used clues from the upper temple to make their way toward the temple in the canyon center. 2022-02-16 Session 3
There they encountered awakened gorillas, a crocodile pit, secret paths, animated objects, and the burned remains of a lizardfolk shaman trying to resurrect a dragon. 2022-02-16 Session 3
During the events of 2022-02-23 Session 4, the party continued deeper into the orrery complex, fought revived robots and bound will-o’-wisps, and copied highlighted text revealed by setting the orrery to the present date. 2022-02-23 Session 4
Their discoveries connected the site to solstice timing, ancient elven lands, and the path to Shu.
Later exploration revealed more of the temple’s inner structure, including vast mithril machinery, elemental pillar mechanisms, a hidden glass elevator room, and a ley-line chamber containing pure life substance.
The party later negotiated directly with Xavriel, who was conducting dangerous transmutation work in the sanctum using refined life substance from the site.
During that same expedition, the party learned of a rogue blood ooze specimen, found an apparent entrance toward the Underdark, and left the temple only to be attacked again by a zombie T-Rex in the canyon jungle.
Further exploration confirmed that the surrounding canyon jungle is itself a major hazard, not merely the ruins at its heart.
