OUR TWISTED GAME CONTINUES

 tldr; Scrap and I are doing a 'Ping-Pong' Exquisite Corpse fire-themed dungeon to bring attention to our Kickstarter.

"What Kickstarter?" you simply and perhaps foolishly ask.

Oh

my

god

just click the links!

Ok, now on with the post AND..

THE HEXAHEDRON OF THE MONKS OF FLAME

What is this? - HERE is the start of the whole thing and a description.

HERE is Scraps first response.

HERE is  a map

And here is my response; 

Room 8

 

Doors

Three doors on the main level, all are wood inlayed and edged with brass. 

West to Room #7 – door slightly open. 

South-West Corner to room #11- brass bar across it on this side attached to a strange mechanism attached to a pipe coming from the room beyond. Rack nearby with small sticks of fragrant wood. 

East to Room #9 – Door locked. 

Secret Door, South East  to Room #9 - right at the bottom of the shaft, hidden in darkness is a door which could be revealed by bringing light to this level and carefully looking around.

 

 

General Description

A multi-layered well of light. This place glows with life. A deep well in the centre of the room. In the centre of that, like the trunk of a tree which has grown up from some lower level, is a stack of prayer wheels. This huge column of amber and basalt, the wheels of gold rotating between wheels of black stone, like thick mill-wheels stacked up. The deep well is surrounded by wooden platforms going down down down, like scaffolding, (only three floors or so but it still looks pretty dramatic). 

Above head height in the main room are brazen branches of shining metal, sculpted as of they were the branches of the tree at the centre, from the branches hang strange iridescent orbs, like ripe fruit 

On the main floor, and down on the several levels of the wooden platforms in the centre which surround the pilar of wheels like scaffolding or the steps of a well-pit, are the carbonised corpses of monks wearing pure robes of orange fire sitting in lotus position. 

 

Context

A room for worship contemplation and joy. The monks would come here to meditate on the great tree of flame bringing both death and  life to all things, the opener of the gates of renewal, redemption and rebirth. 

In autumn they would grieve for the tree of fire, and give respectful sorrows to its grim nature. 

Though dead, the monks are still spiritually present in this room, still meditating on the tree of wheels and adding their power to its unending movement. If you mess with the monks bodies or the wheels you will get a firey ghost attack! 

The Light

The light comes down from above through a light well cunningly disguised in the roof - it looks like stone from above AND ITS A HUGE BLOCK OF AMBER. This is not necessarily obvious to PCs as it just seems like translucent yellowy light. Getting it out safely and transporting it would be a nightmare - plus removing it would likely doom the temple. Plus monk attacks and whatever other guardians we dream up. 

The Big Tree

The Turning Wheels of stone 

Like giant thick mill wheels, turning very very slowly though with no apparent friction. The amber-seeming chunks have strange ritual glyphs cut into them which glimmer and flash vaguely as the wheels turn in the amber light. Likewise the dark onyx wheels have glyphs and signs cut into them – hard to see, black against black, but slowly the wheels turn in strange spears and arrows of shifting light it feels as if for moments in places on the tree words or phrases in some unknown language are spelled out before passing away. 

The Brazen Branches 

Not gold but gilded they wave and writhe along the ceiling like very dangerous low-hanging chandeliers. There are about 8 branches with d4 orb-fruit on them. You could maybe climb on the branches but even touching one slightly sends it swaying and rocking with a 1 in 3 chance of disturbing each branch to each side and so on.

If a branch stars rocking its fruit will drop and either split immediately or roll randomly and then split.

 

The Orb Fruit 

Fruit splits and (roll a d10) 

1 to 4 – A spaff of fire which quickly goes out, d2 damage if its near you.
5 or 6 – Small puddle of Napalm, sets ablaze & will stick to anything that tries to go through it.
7 or 8 – White Phosphorous cloud. Adheres to and eats at all flesh.
9 – Cracks open to reveal a spiky red hedgehog creature. A FireHog. Friendly, like to snuffle around, can be tamed easily, like to roll up in pockets, need to sleep in a fire now and again, snorts and sneezes fire when tickled so can essentially be used as a firelighter though its not useful in combat.
10 – A Firechild who stands like a candleflame and sings out;

 

“Fire is natures gift to time
Oriflamme of new-born things
Time darkens life
Fire brightens time
And so, all flame must live.” 

Any reasonable combination of these concepts will serve as an answer to the question ‘”Why do I live?” in room #12 

The FlameChild then disappears and a single monk sighs, collapses and decays to ash in a moment. 

 

The Combusted Monks

The monks are stil wrapped in clean silk robes which are almost like liquid fire. Their bodies carbonised as if by spontaneous combustion, but they remained totally still during this and are still psychically, spiritually active. the hideously burned bodies look like victims of some natural disaster, if not for their expressions of peace and the uncorrupted nature of their robes. 

Stitched into the monks robes and written upon the torcs of amber bronze and red gold wrapped around their necks are combinations of this phrasing; 

“Fire is natures gift to time
Oriflamme of new-born things
Time darkens life
Fire brightens time
And so, all flame must live.” 

But, again, if you fuck with the monks PSYCHICH BURNING GHOST ATTACK!

Here is the next room.