The fellowship recovered after crashing into the desert. After salvaging supplies, the party continued north east towards their ultimate destination – Gerlkeneshe. After an hour of travel the party spotted was looked liked a temple off in the distance. The party decided to slowly make their way towards the temple.

As they headed toward the pyramid temple, the party treaded across cracked and overgrown flagstones, stepping over fallen and shattered pillars, pushing aside vines and briars.

Then, suddenly, the earth shuddered and gaped open beneath their feet and they fell amid the roar of collapsing masonry. Dust filled the air and the sunlight disappeared.

The party awoke to find themselves in a chamber illuminated by yellow glowing gas by their feet. Arbun was able to detect that this gas was Sulfur Monoxide and that they had 12 hours before they succumbed to the poison gas.

The party found themselves in a long, narrow chamber, running east-west. In the center of this chamber is a domed shape on the floor. In the east wall is a blank-faced stone door. The west end of the room is blocked by fallen stone and rubble, apparently the result of a collapse. The side walls appear to have several niches cut into them.

The shape in the center of the chamber appeared to be a small alcove, protected by a half-dome with the open end facing toward the door in the east wall. This alcove is set in a recessed, shallow, tiled well, one foot deep and ten feet wide. The alcove itself is four feet high. The recess contains some sort of display.

The display appears to be a diorama depicting a hunting party of Olman warriors, in feathers and deer-hide garments, in a mountainside scene. Some have pulled down a stag with the aid of a dog, another group is cleaning a small mule deer, and others have cornered a panther with their spears. A scout watches the panther from an outcropping above. He holds a metal staff with a star on the end.

The three niches on both the northern and southern walls are five feet wide and about three feet off the floor. Each niche contains a diorama depicting some aspect of tribal life. The six-inch-tall figures in all of the displays appear to be made of stucco, realistically and brightly painted. The scenes portrayed represent fishing, farming, religion, warfare, the creation story, and crafting.

At short intervals, small amounts of rubble and dirt come spilling into the room from the collapse. Several large stones appear to have wedged themselves tightly, closing the collapse.

The door is carved with a sun symbol and appears to open into the room; there are hinges on this side and scratches on the floor. There is no visible lock or handle on it, although a slight gap stretches across the top of the door. Eight holes seem to have been bored into the door; they are about an inch in diameter, but nothing can be seen in them. The door seems to be fairly thick.

After investigating the dioramas, the fellowship discovered that the staff could be removed from the central diorama. The fellowship appeared stumped until Arbun fired an arrow at the sun symbol in the door revealing a hidden keyhole. The fellowship inserted the staff and opened the door.

The fellowship walked through the door into the next room where stone walls of this corridor were carved to resemble a stack of bamboo-like logs. The passage sloped down from a single door on its western leg, the lintel of which has been crafted to represent a stylized cavern entrance. It leads to double doors of beaten bronze, worked to resemble a forest of seaweed.

The party walked down the hallway to the double doors not seeing the pressure plate on the floor. As they stepped on the plate, the bamboo logs from the walls struck out at them. The logs quickly retreated and the party recovered and exited the hallway.

The fellowship found the next room constructed of large stone blocks, buttressed in the corners. The walls were wet and slimy, and mud covered most of the floor in a thin coating. To the east and west there were stone doors recessed in the wall, and to the north a set of stairs leads down.

In the center of the chamber sat a large polished boulder amid a pile of smaller rounded rocks. The boulder is five feet tall and colored brown with dark streaks and spots. Leaning against it is what appears to be a bamboo staff.

In the mud around the base of the boulder is a moving shape, looking like a crayfish. The crayfish turned and spoke to the party:

“Who is this? Who dares to enter the chamber of the guardian? You had better go, or I will have to discharge my sacred duty! Be off with you before I lose my temper!”

The party tried to negotiate with the crayfish but decided to attack after the crayfish refused all offers. The party was able to defeat the crayfish easily, upon which the central boulder turned and the party discovered that it was Kalka-Kylla – a giant hermit crab. The party attacked the crab and quickly cracked its shell it two.

The fellowship exited to the north and found the walls of this corridor to be wet and slimy. The stucco covering had become saturated with water and was decomposing and sloughing off in spots on the southern wall, exposing the seams of one of the large stone blocks from which this structure was built.

The party saw a gap in one of the blocks and pushed the block to open a passage to a chamber that held a sarcophagus. As the fellowship entered the chamber, they discovered that the lyme had rubbed off of the block and eroded the metal armour they were wearing.

Beyond the plug was a small foyer holding three sealed urns on the east and west sides. To the south were double doors of bronze with glyphs worked into their faces.

Behind the doors was a chamber cut out of the rock with a veil of calcite and stalactites covering the walls. Buttresses rise from the corners, brown shot through with black, and triangular stone pillars support the high ceiling. Occupying the center of the chamber is a colossal monument resembling a giant’s table, covered on all sides with intricate carvings and glyphs. Engraved on the floor in front of the entrance is a seal that displays more glyphs. Opposite the entrance, a battleaxe is embedded in the wall, six feet above the floor.

Carved on the floor before the sarcophagus were the glyphs in the floor seal that translated as

“Ah, defilers! Now you shall join me in my eternal resting!”

“This is the resting place of Tloques-Popolocas, a servant of the shadow-loving Zotzilaha. 54–3-8”

Kifak tried to pull the axe out of the wall but found that it was a sculpture made from the wall itself. Jesoc and the party lifted the lid of the sarcophagus and a vampire flew up in the air – what remained of Tloques-Popolocas.

A vicious battle ensued! At one point, Tloques-Popolocas bit Jesoc and even drew blood before the party was able to pull him off and defeat and destroy Tloques-Popolocas.

The party took the items that were buried with Tloques-Popolocas and continued to explore the lost temple knowing that time was not on their side. They explored a passage that was collapsed and then made their way to the south.

The room to the south was wet, and the walls were covered with a slimy, white buildup. There was about an inch and a half of water and mud blanketing the floor. Many overturned pedestals and pieces of broken statuary lie on the floor, partially buried in the mud. Opposite the entrance to this room is another door.

Jesoc found that the only undamaged item was a silver pyramid on a pedestal. Jesoc opened the pyramid and found 5 gold pieces which he took and the fellowship continued on.

The doors to the next room are made of bronze and are tinted blue from oxidation. Just inside the doorway are two small alcoves. Each space contained an old fountain, cracked and crusted with lime but with flowing clear water. Around the fountain in the eastern alcove, a heap of rubbish litters the floor. The fountain in the western alcove still holds some green scummy water, in which something moves.

A short hall ended in descending steps leading to the central chamber, which is flooded. A dark, foul pool covers the entire floor. A central hall, flanked by narrow aisles, is defined by two rows of massive square columns. The walls were coated with slime, and there were glowing silver lines etched across them. From what you can see of the chamber’s walls, the stone appears to be crudely worked.

Two corroded bronze braziers stand in the pool. Toward the middle of the room, one broken urn pokes up out of the water. In the darkness on the eastern wall appears to be an enormous growth of an overall greenish hue that gives off the same silvery gleam as the slime trails.

The party went to explore the greenish hue and Tecuziztecatl, Lord of the Snail emerged from the water and attacked. Tecuziztecatl was no match for the fellowship and was easily defeated.

The party went to the room on the other side of the room but found that it was locked. After unsuccessfully trying to open the door, the fellowship searched the room and found a key in the urn.

The fellowship exited the room and made their way down several passages with water trickling down from Tecuziztecatl’s lair.

They eventually came to a locked door with splashing and giggling coming from within. The fellowship was eventually able to open the door and they saw a splash as something dove under the water,

The room is lit by a soft light that reveals a section of rocky beach. Beyond the beach is a pool of glowing water, filling half the room and framed by a crystal cavern. Green fronds can be seen in the pool. Light seems to flow from everywhere, the pool and walls glistening like soft moonlight. On the far side of the pool is a set of doors carved with a sun symbol.

The fellowship made their way through the pool to the door on the other side. The party made their way down the passage until they finally came to a great hall where the water stopped.

This hallway was twenty feet wide and had piles of rubble and debris scattered along its length. The walls were covered with frescoes. The south wall displays scenes of a battle between natives and invaders.

The north wall depicts people questing for a new land; their experiences during the journey include crossing treacherous mountains, sailing over storm-tossed seas, and receiving the guidance of the gods in their battles to keep their homeland free from invasions. In the center of the wall is a painting of a pyramid with a temple atop it and the sun shining over the land.

Down the hall to the west is an archway carved in the form of twining serpents. Beyond it, the corridor continues on into shadow.

The fellowship still noticed the glowing yellow gas at their feet.

Arbun estimated they had 10 hours left.