Note to the GM: Even though I wrote this as a Coldforged dungeon, minor adjustments can easily make it free standing. Instead of K'Haun Ramahl you could have an ancient entity of your own choosing, or adjust him to your setting, and the city of Malcaresh could easily be swapped with one in your setting
Stone Tablet inscription,
Signed by Kandau-Teng,
Third Priest and Warden of the Ritual,
Disciple of K'Haun Ramahl and Protector of the Secret.The tablet has been written in an ancient, though legible script. The writing is still beautiful, with ornamentally chiselled capital letters after each full stop.
Descendant Brother,
Hear me now.Though the loss of our fallen brethren troubles me, I cannot but feel joy for our recent victory. After months of chanting, we lured the elder thing from the shadows and into our carefully prepared trap. No more will the blood of innocents flow; no longer will its hideous maw drink from the bodies of our friends and family. Alas, slumber does not arrive easily for our ancient nemesis: Only by the sedating power of the ritual, combined with the mystic bonds of the twin relics did the shadow of sleep fall upon it.
Therefore, we have built this temple, to act as a prison and a safeguard, to shelter it in the aeons to come, and to be its mausoleum, its harem of fulfilment. For only through the sedation of its murderous instincts and the fulfilment of its sadistic perversions do we manage to maintain its eternal slumber.
Our arch-mage, Thondrek the hero of Bleeding Pass crafted the shackles of sedation. For days he chanted, his divinations spying her whereabouts, before he finally captured Elainaia, a particularly strong river spirit. Her essence was bound to the very steel shackles that imprison it now, runes of power barring the escape of both Elder thing and Spirit of nature; locking them in battle eternal.
It falls to you then, descendant brother, to keep the second part of the bargain. Though the task may seem grotesque, remember it is for a higher cause. It falls upon you to provide the sleeper with sacrifice eternal. On the night of each new moon, the sleeper must be presented with the living body of an innocent. For as strong as the spirit of nature might be, she is naught compared to him, and his attention must be diverted, his instincts kept sedated, lest he stalk the earth again.
Thus sound the word of our elders.
Malcareshian Ritual Prayer, origins unknown, but some sages claim it to be an ancient reference to the infrequent disappearances that has plagued the city for untold centuries.
Mighty Father, protector Saint,
Guard me, guide me, and watch me as I sleep.
These dreams were not meant for mortal man.
Shelter me, hide me, and watch me as I weep.
In the dark alleys of Malcaresh, the Caravan City of the Plains, many an adventurer meets his death at the end of an unseen blade. Even more part unwillingly with their belongings, having fallen victim to the thieves and cutthroats plying their old and ignoble trade. Yet even among these, the whispers of House Caraguil invoke fear and discomfort.
House Caraguil
The house is an ancient edifice that can easily be identified as the oldest structure in the city. The city itself was founded seven centuries ago, and even in the earliest records there are references to the House and the strange phenomena that can be experienced in its vicinity; reoccurring nightmares and alarmingly brutal rape-murders.
Once a huge garden surrounded the house, but the ever-increasing demand for real estate made the city council claim the gardens during the great population boom three centuries ago. As a result, the mansion's façade is now fronting Hawker Street and on the back is the alley known as 'Jarilya's Demise', named after the daughter of an arch-mage of old. She was found stabbed a dozen times in this alley. The alley has been the location of choice for criminal gangs these last centuries, and is where they take their traitors, failures and unfortunates before they slit their throat.
The House itself is made of polished grey bricks of granite. The construction is remarkable in both quality and in its lack of ornamental features. The windows are arched, with high quality glass panes, but that is about as far as it goes. The Hawker Street entryway is more of a small gate than a large double door, and has been reinforced with black lacquered steel. There is a small door on the back, made of the same material. Some of the cellar windows have been broken and in places the steel bars have been sawed off. Street urchins can sometimes be spotted slipping in and out of House Caraguil through these narrow entryways.
Throughout time, the House has serviced as an orphanage, a boarding school for rich children and, when the owner Celador Caraguil was hung by an enraged mob (after the rumours circulated that he arranged the disappearances of the kids), it was purchased by disreputable persons and for a time served as a brothel. About a decade ago the brothel was closed when Lady Minara Yusil was found murdered on the morn following a long night of sin and debauchery. The men and women that had provided for her pleasure all had rock solid alibis as they were entertaining a prominent council member, so the building was declared permanently uninhabitable by the Council and bars were put in front of its many windows. Three Council Mages were sent to investigate the ancient edifice, but one of them disappeared and the two others came back severely disturbed, urging the Council to lock the mansion's doors never to reopen them. The city archives state no more than this, though the two mages, the Imperial 'Ali Ben-Hazram' and the Gauthian 'Anor Thenaug', still live and can be found in their City Council offices.
The Unknown History of House Caraguil
The Mansion was built more than 1400 years ago by Bluethon Warriors led by Thondrek, their High Mage and leader. The warriors had chased an elusive entity for nearly two decades and finally caught up with it as it lay slumbering at the base of a spectacular waterfall. The Priesthood legends claim that this was due to the magical chants of Thondrek and cunning traps laid by the priesthood, but this is a later addition. The truth is that they stumbled upon the entity as it slept.
They say the entity was one of particular cruelty; in its wake all that was left was the broken bodies of raped virgins, their eyes plucked out and their tongues blackened. So the warriors proceeded with great caution, urging their leader to the front so he could witness what fate had unexpectedly handed them. It was a night of silent celebration, the faces of the warriors bright with smiles tempered with caution. Thondrek wove mighty spells that night and he encased the sleeping murderer in layer upon layer of magic: Weariness, bewilderment and immobility. Yet when the entity stirred, the spells only hindered it marginally. More was clearly needed!
Thus began the construction of the hidden mausoleum, Thondrek's Warriors erecting the edifice around the sleeping entity. All the while Thondrek laboured, he called upon a spirit of nature and bound her to specially prepared shackles of steel. These shackles were put on the wrists of the Elder Horror yet it wasn't enough. The entity became more and more uncontrollable as it grew hungry and it soon became clear that it needed to feed should its slumber continue, for this entity fed even while asleep. After their work had been finished, Thondrek used his magic to heave stones and earth and sand around the base of the now mighty edifice. It was as if he tried to shelter an unwary world from the evil beneath. Only the uppermost levels of the edifice remained above ground; even the waterfall was buried.
Years passed and Thondrek grew old. Death was approaching, he could feel it in his bones, so he began crafting a mighty Golem, the Caretaker, from bone and stone so that it might continue the labour of Thondrek even after the death of the High Mage. His work was finished and then one night, decades after they erected the edifice, Thondrek fell asleep one last time. The defences of the mausoleum remained but partially finished and the mage was buried in the Great Garden that surrounded the mansion.
For years his followers inhabited the mausoleum, carefully aiding the Caretaker in his eternal task. In the end civilization caught up with the inhabitants and a city was constructed around the hill on the plains, for it was a strategic location where the roads from the east to the west meet with the mighty waterway known as River Firien*.
So the Priesthood departed the mausoleum for the Blueth race did not mix well with the denizens of the new city. The priest wove to return each new moon with sacrifice for their eternal prisoner and thus it has been ever since.
The current name of the mansion, House Caraguil, is but a recent addition. Celador Caraguil, a well meaning professor of botanics, purchased the building (he thought it was quite a bargain to get it as cheaply as he did) and established a school for rich children. The rest, as they say, is history.
*The waterfall was from river that joined the Firien, not part of Firien itself.