The Nature GM

From one perspective, every time characters journey through the wilderness, they are in a natural dungeon. The walls are made of rivers, cliff edges, and tree lines, and the traps are predators that lie in wait for easy prey.

But for most of us, when we want a dungeon we mean an enclosed space with doors and treasure chests, and sometimes you want it to have a forest theme. In this case, then, you might insert this modest dungeon: The Temple of Spring.

Once A Place of Worship

The Temple of Spring is a five-room dungeon with four literal rooms. The temple was once a place where druids revered the spring form of the goddess Cailleach, when the wizened crone released her winter storm and returned to the beauty of her youth. (She was intended as an analog to the Zelda goddess Farore.)

The dungeon is an abandoned temple with a light flavor of arcane forest. I sought to make it a believable structure that the players could image being used in the distant past.

The temple is located on intersecting ley lines that produce a node of magical chaos. This chaos is kept in balance by a green glass Orb of Courage which is kept inside the temple. Removing the orb causes localized mutations of flora and fauna, making them monstrous and aggressive.

The orb is also a magical artifact. And we do like magical artifacts.

Before the Characters Arrive

A baron named Galdor la Rouge (yes, inspired by Ganondorf) wants the Orb of Courage for his own personal climb to power, in addition to the Orbs of Power and Wisdom. He hired the illusion mage Lesevik to steal these orbs for him, but Lesevik has acquired a taste for power and has decided to keep the orbs for himself. The baron subsequently hired bandits to capture Lesevik and retrieve the orbs.

Lesevik already has the Orb of Power on his person and was on his way to retrieve the Orb of Courage when he was arrested in a nearby settlement for impersonating a fey entity and exhorting villagers. He has escaped captivity and is after the Orb of Courage before he goes into hiding. The characters are told that a dangerous wizard was spotted in the woods near the Temple of Spring, and they are sent to apprehend him.

Room 1: Dusken Woods

The first room in the dungeon is the forest that surrounds the temple. To reach the temple, the characters must survive encounters with a pack of wolves and the bandits sent after Lesevik. These are significant challenges for level 2 or 3 characters.

When they finally reach the temple (shortly behind Lesevik), they find a circle of leafless cherry trees in front of a stone building with letters carved into the front door.

Room 2: Puzzle Door & Giant Spiders

There are those who have strong opinions about puzzles in TTRPGs, and particularly about how they should not be. Generally, I agree. However, I wanted an adventure with a Legend of Zelda feel, and Zelda dungeons are nothing if not rife with puzzles. And so I included one.

When the characters reached the door, a handful of giant spiders attacked, which gave the players who did not care about the puzzle something to do. It also made solving the puzzle feel more important…and made solving it more challenging because the players were distracted. (Oops!)

The door opened when a password was spoken, and the word was written on the door. The two letters C are in yellow; this is the first letter. The letter O is halfway between them in white; this is the second letter.  The third letter is between the two O’s, and so forth. This puzzle came from an online resource that I have long forgotten, and I tested it with a few friends before bringing it to the table. They were able to solve it after a couple of hints, and so I slowly gave the players the same hints.

One of the players guessed the password, and the door opened. They never solved the puzzle.

The word on the door, of course, is COURAGE.

Room 3: Awakened Vines

Once the characters pass through the door, they are in a foyer with a broken fountain and overgrown vines. The vines have been awakened from the influence of chaos, and they attack and entangle the characters.

Admittedly, this is the most directly “nature” themed that the inner portion of the dungeon gets.

Room 4: Confrontation with Lesevik

Beyond the foyer is a long room with a vaulted ceiling where druids and other pilgrims would have gathered. At the back of the sanctuary is a raised dais with a statue of a beautiful goddess. Her hands are cupped as though they are meant to hold something. Behind her are two tall stained-glass windows: one depicts an old woman in winter, and the other depicts this young goddess in spring.

On a table in front of the dais is a deteriorating scroll that contains some lore about Cailleach and the Orb of Courage.

Lesevik is in the sanctuary with the Orb of Courage (green) and the Orb of Power (red). He has cast Invisibility on himself, and he has Magic Missile readied to fire off if he is detected. He will attempt to escape and save himself at any cost. Naturally, he is a contact juggler with extra glass balls with which to confuse the orbs.

I tried to make Lesevik seem very cool, with spiked silver hair and an audacious outfit of tight-fitting black tunic and striped pants. I think it would have been fun to try to persuade the characters that he was protecting the orbs from Galdor La Rouge and that they should help him.

Room 5: Empty Room & Magic Wands

To the left of the foyer is a closed door which is locked. Opening it reveals an old sleeping chamber with nothing but a decomposing bed and an empty chamber pot. When I ran this dungeon, Lesevik was in this room taking a rest before he traveled back through Dusken Woods. This turned out to be a mistake because he was effectively trapped in a small room with only one point of egress, and the ensuing battle was somewhat lacking in tension. An illusion wizard cannot easily blast through a line of enemies crowding a doorway.

To the right of the foyer is a closed door that is unlocked. Inside is a disused kitchen and storage room that includes molded mundane items. It also contains a chest with four magic wands, each with three charges a day that allow the user to cast Ray of Frost, Mold Earth, Control Flames, or Gust, respectively.

The Orbs

This adventure was for level 2 characters, and the orbs were designed to be a significant boon but not a game breaking one, particularly since they were likely to have the Orb of Power in their possession for a while.

Orb of Courage
Wonderous item, rare. Requires attunement.
While attuned, you know the cantrips Druidcraft and Thorn Whip. Once per day, you can use an action to cast Heroism at 1st level on yourself.

Orb of Power
Wonderous item, rare. Requires attunement.
While attuned, you know the cantrips Fire Bolt and Light. Once per day, you can use an action to cast Haste on yourself.

When the Orb of Courage is replaced in the outstretched palms of the Cailleach statue, the vines and giant spiders return to their normal size and condition, and the circle of cherry trees outside burst into bloom. The characters may receive experience or reach a level-up checkpoint.

Find the Temple of Fire

Assuming the characters defeat Lesevik and replace the Orb of Courage, it is a natural progression for them to similarly return the Orb of Power to its rightful place. Because the orb is red and this is a Zelda-inspired game, it is rightly deduced to be a fire-themed temple.

In this particular campaign we attempted to switch GMs at the completion of every story arc. This turned out to be an unsatisfying experience because the tone and expectations changed so severely with each GM. The GM who followed me was not interested in creating a fire dungeon, though the Orb of Power was “returned” in a different manner.

In later posts, I may sketch out how I would have made fire and water themed temples for this campaign.

The Temple is a Canvas

The Temple of Spring was my take on the archetypal Zelda forest temple for Dungeons & Dragons. The map (created with Inkarnate) is simple enough that it can be adapted to different scenarios. I am interested in how others might add a more overt nature theme while still preserving the believability of a real temple.

And as ever, keep exploring.