The Stepped Pyramid (Patreon)

Stepped Pyramids are a perennial favourite adventure location – usually hidden away in deep jungles as left over reminders of ancient civilizations. Some are still in use by the original builders, others have been adopted by whatever throwback civilization has taken over the location or inherited it from their more advanced and knowledgeable forebears.

The stepped pyramid has three interior levels, reached by an access at the top of the pyramid proper – so pull on your “boots, tall, soft” and get climbing up those stairs. From the top shrine, stairs lead down into the linear first level of the temple and at the end of the level there is a shaft leading straight down (without ladder of course) to the mid level of the structure (look for the small L-shaped alcove just north of the secret stairs down to the base level – there’s a dotted circle in that alcove indicating where the shaft opens). There is an unmarked secret door on this level that leads to the stairs down to the base level where the wall is exceptionally thin.

The mid level is dedicated to the many high priests of the temple over the generations – each chamber bears mosaics and depictions of 1d4 high priests and their greatest achievements.

The lower level, accessed by the secret stairway, leads to the deep tombs of the structure where 16 great warrior-kings are sealed away in their sarcophagi.

There are two unmarked secret doors on the base level – both towards the upper half of the map at locations where the wall is exceptionally thin. There is also one chamber that has no obvious access method – no doors, passages, or secret doors. This can either be a sealed off tomb that might be discovered through the detection of new construction, or a secret chamber that dates back to the original construction that is only accessible via teleportation from elsewhere in the dungeon.

This map was drawn for the Aztlan Awakens project by Aether Studios and Explore Dungeons.

https://dysonlogos.blog/2020/07/23/the-stepped-pyramid/