Shrine of the Cabbage God

By Ben Gibson
Coldlight Press
1e
Levels 4-6

Gayle, priestess of the god of earth, has received visions; an annoying enemy of the god stirs up in the mountains. If servants of his temple can kill this enemy for good then the three earth elementals tasked with keeping him buried will serve the party for a month and a day.

This twelve page adventure describes a two level abandoned temple with about thirty rooms. A classic crawl that leans realistic while still not forgetting it’s a D&D adventure. And, not to worry, it’s not a joke adventure

Ye Olde Abandoned Temple Crawle, that’s what we got here. Because of maybe – “Quecho, cheerful llama-herder, pays for drinks for everyone at the caravansary with part of an ancient gold plate, he claims he found it up in the high plateau near a forbidden old valley.” or maybe “The family ancestor skull Qhawa recently woke up and started annoying his descendants, insulting them and telling them to go to the shrine where he once served. His family is desperate to get rid of him and offload him to the adventurers if possible. He knows the way to the shrine but will admit he only worked in the gardens outside of it when arriving there.” Two pretty decent hooks. Nothing more, really, than “you find a treasure map” but in both cases a couple of extra words to bring them to life a little more. Maybe a little Mort in that second example and perhaps implying a tone that is not present in the rest of the adventure, but, still, both of these have enough specificity that a DM can craft something around them. And that’s a good hook.

Once at the site we find some ruins above ground with an obvious hole in to the ground. Down you go! Oh, also, there’s a band of thieves up top who slay your followers, cut your rope, and rob you. Talk about the classics!  

Down below is the two level Shrine of the Cabbage God. It’s a decent mix of traditional D&D elements along with a slight bend to a more realistic temple. One room has “Calendar Chamber: This domed chamber is painted in a yellowing white with black specks for the stars. A raised square platform is in the center; hovering 5ft over the platform is a gleaming golden +1 dagger (worth 3,500gp) with a steel core that points to the constellation currently ascendant “ Hey! Neato! Love a good ol star chamber! Also, that dagger is stuck in the middle of Gelatinous Cube. It told you. The DM told you. It was just suspended there. And you walked right up and tried to grab it anyway, didn’t you? And then half a second too late the light blub clicked on. This is a great encounter. 

In other places there are nice little nods to some Indiana Jones style of traps and challenges. “This stone table holds a pair of golden masks (worth 550gp each), one with a melted face stuck to it. A dead thief, face missing, lies next to the table.” Well, yeah. Nice pairing there. The merlot goes excellently with that Stilton. I’m down.

The adventure is a mix of elements: other looters also trapped by the thieves up top, some vermin like the cube, the usual Avatar and other temply things like blessings and genuflects. “Avatar of Oleracea crouches in slumber, a vaguely humanoid shape built of bolted cabbage, half-covered by pebbles, it’s ears and eyes covered by the stony hands of a rocky statue (a patient earth elemental who only cares about silencing the petty god). Oleracea hears and sees through his avatar if the hands are removed and can give directions/ blessings (see spells) if he’s impressed by his interlocuters, but the avatar itself is wilted and cannot move “ Sounds like my fifth wife. 

It’s a solid little adventure. I do find the writing a bit dry for my tastes. And the paragraph style formatting can get long in places. There is some bolding, underlining, tables, and what not to try to call out important details, but I still think it’s probably over the line of what can be absorbed quickly. Still, a decent little adventure with a wide variety of interactivity to keep things moving, situations to exploit or be exploited by that introduce some dynamism to the play.

This is Pay What You Want at DriveThru with a suggested price of $2.

https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/566390/shrine-of-the-cabbage-god?1892600