Adventure Begins…at the temple

Beginning a new segment for adventure hooks to help all of those DMs looking for a start to something legendary. My first inclination was to write about the tavern. But that’s a bit cliche. So, instead adventure begins…

AT THE TEMPLE

Upon arrival at the Temple…

1. There seems to a lot of excitement.  There’s been a claim that a miracle has happened.  But it’s on the site of their last battle with their most hated enemy.  They’re putting together a group to verify.
2. A villager bursts through the front door yelling for the head cleric.  His wife is sick like nothing he has ever seen.  There’s a strange glow in her eyes and she keeps speaking in an unknown language.
3. Things look as they always do, but the clerics looks nervous and there’s a strange old woman praying in a non-native language.  The louder she is, the more nervous the clerics become.
4. The town is as active as it always is, but the temple is empty with no signs of a struggle.
5. The High Priest looks worried.  If pressed, he tells you his daughter was due there a day ago with no word.  He can’t leave the town, but would be obliged if you would look into it.
6. A very important ancient relic has been unearthed near the temple.  They need to transport it to the main temple in an adjacent town but the road along the way is filled with bandits and passes through land teaming with wild beasts and much too close to an enemy’s stronghold.  Do you dare help?
7. You walk into a ceremony dedicated to the blessing of a young child.  Everything seems normal all except a light… coming from the eyes of the babe.
8. Your party finds it under siege by other clerics wearing the same holy symbol as those in the temple.
9. You find two of the clerics arguing vehemently about a point of piety.  The disagreement begins to break into an all-out schism as more clerics join in.  Weapons are drawn.  Do you take sides?
10. You are greeted at the door by a traveling evangelist.  He’s charismatic and mesmerizing.  But the party member with the highest wisdom notices something a bit off.
11. The lead cleric brings you into his confidence.  An ancient tome has been found.  The only problem is that anyone who reads it drops into an unwaking sleep.
12. A service is in session at an odd hour.  The longer you stay, the harder it is to leave.  In fact, this ceremony is quite entrancing.
13. Construction on a new wing has unearthed something Primordial.  It immediately offers the party and any of the priest their ‘heart’s desire’ in exchange for releasing it.
14. The clerics seem stressed and unwilling to waver from their work to do anything for the party.  If pressed, they will reveal that their god has their loved ones and demands the finishing of a task.
15. The clerics seem to be in process of summoning something dark and fiendish.  If the party interferes, they find that it wasn’t a summoning ritual but a sealing ritual.  And they just stopped it.  Roll Initiative or bargain with a fiendish power, your choice.
16. Everything goes as normal.  But, later on, your party finds that one of them has been switched with a doppleganger/changeling.  When outed, the replacement asks for your help.
17. A sinkhole in the lower levels leads to a chasm revealing a lost civilization.  The clerics want it destroyed, but you’re not sure.
18. You stay the night.  One of your party is awakened by the sound of a lullaby sung to him by his mother.  It’s coming from the crypts.
19. There’s blood splattered on the steps out front.  Investigating, you find all the priests murdered, the place ransacked.  A priest appears from a hidden compartment fatally injured.  He hands you something and simply says, as he dies, “Keep it safe!”
20. You spend the night.  You wake up the next morning and there’s a small chest filled with platinum and a note.  It says, “Kill them all” and it’s initialed.