L2-18. Great Funerary Temple of the Ruby Law
Opening tableau — “Lawful storm”
The Gods’ Door exhales a breath of cold law. The nave beyond is a black-basalt box of judgment, ruby seams threading the stone like veins. The air is visibly warped—heatless, a slow ripple on a six-count, as if sound itself were pressing the room into order.
A three-step dais bears a broad ruby-veined altar; to either side loom horned judges in stone, helmed and dour, wings folded against their backs. Six iron candelabra march the center aisle; ruby fire burns without smoke. Stone pews flank the way, and in them sit the embalmed dead, hands folded, still as verdicts. From everywhere at once comes a low chant—many voices braided into one—measured, unhurried, and terrible.
The Gods’ Door exhales a breath of cold law. The nave beyond is a black-basalt box of judgment, ruby seams threading the stone like veins. The air is visibly warped—heatless, a slow ripple on a six-count, as if sound itself were pressing the room into order.
A three-step dais bears a broad ruby-veined altar; to either side loom horned judges in stone, helmed and dour, wings folded against their backs. Six iron candelabra march the center aisle; ruby fire burns without smoke. Stone pews flank the way, and in them sit the embalmed dead, hands folded, still as verdicts. From everywhere at once comes a low chant—many voices braided into one—measured, unhurried, and terrible.
If Valdris is already at the altar
A lone figure stands at the altar, robes the color of old blood, one fist lifted over the Skull-Star. With each slow beat the ruby inlays brighten, necrotic current pooling beneath his hand, drawing up through the dais like a tide. The pew-dead shiver once, then go still. The horned judges seem to lean without moving.
His voice rides the chant, a razor through silk: “Witness. Measure. Obey.”
His voice rides the chant, a razor through silk: “Witness. Measure. Obey.”
If the party enters noisily (undead rise)
Your footfalls stumble the cadence. Ruby lines flash across the floor; the chant grows a half-tone louder. In the pews the dead tilt in unison, wax seals catching the altar-light. One by one they rise, heads turning toward the aisle as if pulled by a chain.
Ruby Hallow of the Six
(temple-wide field)
While the chant persists and at least 4/6 candelabra are lit:
Boons for the rightful:
- Suel-faith PCs (Wee Jas, Lendor, Jascar, Fortubo; DM discretion) gain advantage on Wisdom saves vs. fear/charm and +1 to spell attack rolls and DCs made within the nave.
- Performing a short, respectful six-count prayer at a lit candelabrum (action) grants 1d4 temporary hp (1/creature/short rest).
Ban es for the defiant:
- Undead hostile to the Ruby Law take +1d4 radiant from the first weapon/spell that hits them each round.
- Clerics/Paladins of deities diametrically opposed to Wee Jas (DM use your table’s enmities) suffer disadvantage on Concentration checks while within 30 ft of the altar.
Breaking the field:
- Extinguish candelabra (can only be snuffed by dispel magic or holy water; STR checks or mundane water fail) or perform the Witness of Closure (below).
- If 3 or more candelabra go dark, the field weakens: remove all boons/banes and the chant drops to a whisper.
Temple rites the party can use
Witness of Closure (two-creature, player-skill; no checks):
At any candelabrum, one creature counts to six softly while the other crosses the flames with an incense stick or a blade on the sixth beat. Do this at two candelabra in sequence (any two) within one minute → the chant falters for 2 rounds (no lair action that round; undead lose their +1d4 radiant vulnerability), and a hostile undead of CR ≤ the party’s level is turned for 1 round (DM picks; once per combat).
Altar Suppression (tools & tokens):
Slot a Stonebond Token (from L2-11b) in the left offertory tray while a second creature rings a six-count by knocking the altar steps with a weapon hilt → the altar’s sigils dim for 1 minute (Valdris loses lair actions; demon statues cannot animate during that minute). Single-use.
Guardians
- Animated Demon Statues (2): Use Helmed Horror or Stone Golem stats (your table’s power). Immune to fire; vulnerable to thunder (shatters). Trigger: Animate on Valdris’s command (bonus action) or when a hostile steps onto the top altar step.
- Ruby Zombies (6): Seated in pews (3 left, 3 right). Rise as Valdris uses Command Undead (bonus, 60 ft).
- Ruby Ghouls (2): Usher shadows at the aisle midpoint (in dim light behind the second candelabra).
Valdris here (boss pacing, lair actions)
When fought in this room, Valdris Jasildane (Ruby Mortarch) gains lair actions on initiative 20 (loses ties):
- Ruby Pulse: The chant swells; each enemy within 30 ft of a candelabrum makes a DC 15 Wis save or is frightened of the altar until the end of its next turn.
- Seize the Measure: Move each Ruby Zombie 10 ft along the aisle toward a target and grant it +2 AC until start of next round.
- Judgment Spark: A candelabrum spits ruby motes in a 15-ft line; creatures in line DC 14 Dex save or take 10 (3d6) radiant; undead that fail instead take 10 (3d6) force (ignite/sunder effect).
If you’re not using lair actions, instead give Valdris 1 Legendary Action/round to Command Undead (move or attack) or Ruby Lash (necrotic bolt, 10 (3d6) necrotic, 60 ft).
Avatar-Sign of Wee Jas (5% miracle)
Once per battle, if Valdris spends his action to petition the Ruby Judge, roll d20: on a 20 (5%), an avatar-sign manifests above the altar for 1 round—a ruby-robed silhouette with a helmed skull.
- All creatures choose: kneel (no action, immune to fear for 1 minute) or defy (DC 16 Wis save or be stunned until the end of their next turn).
- Undead under Valdris each regain 10 hp.
- After it fades, all candelabra flare, restoring the Ruby Hallow if it was suppressed.
(Use sparingly; it’s a dramatic beat, not an auto-TPK lever.)
The altar-light folds inward and re-blooms as a tall, robed silhouette, a helmed skull where the face should be. No foot touches the stone; it simply is—and the whole room kneels in the bones of your legs. Kneel, a thought says, not in your ear but in your record. Those who will not feel their wills unspool like thread.
Tactics (quick script)
- Opening: Valdris begins on the dais, zombies seated, ghouls shadowed mid-aisle. He parleys for one round if the party enters respectfully; otherwise commands the pews and launches Ruby Lash from cover.
- Mid: He uses lair actions to control the aisle and lets statues body the frontliners. Will target clerics/paladins who oppose Wee Jas with debuff pressure.
- Late: If reduced below ⅓ hp, he attempts the petition (avatar-sign) or withdraws through a sacristy side door (if you add one) to regroup.
Altar surge
(Valdris spends action to channel)
He slams his fist to the stone. Ruby lightning spiders through the Skull-Star and black wind peels up from the floor, a cold, dry cyclone that doesn’t move air so much as erase warmth. The six fires answer, flaring straight up in iron-red pillars. Every seam in the room glows, the whole temple a single, perfect sigil.
When a candelabrum is dispelled/snuffed
(field weakens)
The ruby flame pops and gutters out. The chant stumbles, a singer dropping from the choir; for a heartbeat the pressure eases and breath returns to your lungs.
Valdris falls
(temple breaks from his will)
The chant unbraids into a long exhale. Candelabra gutters steady; the ruby lines fade to hairline glimmers. Dust hangs in the cold air where the black wind was, and for the first time the room feels empty, not righteous—a courthouse after hours.
Consecration complete
(party performs three Witness rites in sequence)
Your measured words land like seals in wax. The last flame bows and steadies; a clear tone—not from metal, but from the stone itself—settles across the hall. For seven days, the Ruby Law will guard rather than grasp.
Scaling the fight
- Lower level party: Reduce zombies to 4, ghouls to 1, statues as Gargoyles rather than golems; lair actions every other round.
- Higher level party: Add Ruby Custodian (wight) emerging from a side sacristy at round 3; statues as Stone Golems; lair actions every round.
Valdris Jasildane by 3orcs
(behind the Gods’ Door; final showdown with Valdris Jasildane)
At-a-glance (DM quick)
- Where: East of L2-15 Crossroads (past the Gods’ Door).
- Size/shape: 50′ × 50′ square nave with a three-step dais and great altar on the north wall.
- Role: Ceremony hall for Suel funerary rites; now Valdris’s throne-church.
- Tone: Low droning chant, ruby light, measured six-beat—holy, severe, dangerous.
- Fight: Valdris Jasildane (Ruby Mortarch) + 6 Ruby Zombies seated in pews (rise on his command), 2 Ruby Ghouls as ushers, and 2 Animated Demon Statues (see “Guardians”).
- Divine field: Ruby Hallow of the Six (boons & banes, below).
- One-time miracle: 5% chance an Avatar-Sign of Wee Jas answers Valdris’s petition.
Exits
- South: Back through the Gods’ Door to L2-15 Crossroads.
- Optional side doors (DM add if desired): narrow sacristy (west) to storage, vestry (east) to private cells.
- Central aisle: Red processional tiles form a 10-ft-wide spine to the dais; candelabra pairs at 10′, 25′, and 40′ from the door.
- Pews: Two banks (each 4 rows; 3 creatures/row). Difficult terrain to vault or climb through quickly.
- Altar (north wall; 25′×10′ footprint): Ruby inlays form the Skull-Star. Two offertory trays with small ruby pips (see Rites).
- Demon statues (Large): One left, one right of altar; horned, helmed, engraved with Wee Jas’ sigils.
- Sound: The chant sets a metronome; the whole room subtly pulses on counts 1–6.
Type
Temple / Church
Parent Location
Owner
Owning Organization
Short, repeatable beats
(use between turns)
- Aisle hums: “The red tiles purr under your boots—counted, counting.”
- Scent: “It smells of myrrh and old ink, of cold iron and closed ledgers.”
- Light: “Ruby motes hang like dust held in a single second.”
DM direction
(how to feel it at the table)
- Keep the six-count audible (tap or say the beat). Let players time actions off it.
- Read Valdris as certain, not frothing—his menace is procedural.
- Treat the altar’s surge like weather: call out how it presses on skin, dims color, sharpens edges.
- Reward any measured, respectful behavior with advantage on a timing task or tiny respite in the chant; let noisy or defiant moves spike the room’s pressure.
Treasure & consecration
- High altar reliquary (DC 15 to open without marring):
- Pectoral of the Ruby Skull-Star (art 250 gp; while worn in funerary sites, advantage vs. fear/charm from undead).
- Scepter of Count and Seal (uncommon rod; 3/day you may add +1d4 to a timing-based check/save within 30 ft after speaking a six-count).
- Ampoules of funerary myrrh (3); Wee Jas ribbon-seal (parley advantage with custodians once).
- Sanctifying the nave: If Valdris is destroyed and the party performs the Witness of Closure at three candelabra in sequence, the chant resolves and the hall becomes hallowed (Good or Law) for 7 days; each PC gains Blessing of Composure (1/day, advantage on a fear save).
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