Hegruth's Labyrinth (Patreon)
Content
In the valley of the eight spires there was once a massive sandstone labyrinth that separated the various structures here and was part of what made it such a holy site. But in the wars that followed the sundering of the faith, one group of heretics gleefully destroyed as much of the labyrinth as they could - both the natural portions and those worked by centuries of divinely inspired stonemasons.
All that is left of the labyrinth are the piles of rubble slowly disappearing into the desert valley and a few traces of it around the last of the eight spires at one end of the valley and at the entrance to Hegruth's Shrine at the other.
The shrine itself was looted in the fighting and then lost. Rediscovered a century later it was looted once more, then the last artifacts of the cult of Hegruth were returned here and sealed away as the cult faded away without a charismatic leader to guide it with visions of the old saint.
Deadly "violet ague" spores were left scattered among the artifacts to deter (and kill) looters. But someone didn't quite cork the decanter of endless water quite right, and the violet ague spores found a place to live and grow... combined with something living within the root of the saint's toenail encased in the same area, the violet ague has survived and mutated and has picked up some sort of malevolent sentience. And it wants out of this tomb but also needs a way to survive the trip through the desert ahead if it does escape.
So it needs a carrier, if you will. Someone it can hollow out and carry itself within to escape. Unfortunately it keeps growing, and a single wandering camel or adventurer won't be enough to get the whole thing out anymore...
And of course, one of Hegruth's artifacts is needed now (likely the holy symbol dagger that incorporates both of his shin bones as well as one of his teeth in the pommel), and sages have found Hegruth's labyrinth on an old map of the region...
You can download this map for your free personal use from the blog post at http://wp.me/psUVp-2q2