Now that the Douglas and Dragons crew is about done w/ the Crying Eye Mountain adventure I wrote, I can reveal the entire map of the temple and its history!
History of The Temple of Kkal Ohm Han
This once abandoned temple has now been claimed by Krexakkar, a huge adult white dragon. Here, inside the craggy, broken summit of Crying Eye Mountain, the dragon sleeps and protects his treasure hoard. This collection includes the object that Grokka the Cruel is desperately looking for, the Amulet of Kkal Ohm Han.
Kkal Ohm Han is a mostly forgotten, evil deity who was worshiped by hobgoblins and frost giants alike. Eventually, after decades of bringing terror to the people of Varisia, the army of Kkal Ohm Han was defeated. Most of the tribes that worshiped the deity were slaughtered, and the rest driven from the lands. Knowledge of the great army of Kkal Ohm Han has not completely disappeared, however, and its greatness has festered in the minds of the descendants of the giants and hobgoblins that survived the church’s end. That knowledge has spread to the minds of others of their kind, feeding desires of power once again.
The temple inside the summit of Crying Eye Mountain was used as a meeting place for the religious and military leaders of the different tribes that formed the great army of Kkal Ohm Han. Here they would conduct rituals to their god, develop their strategies for upcoming raids and battles, and develop powerful alchemical weapons. A small, elite force of soldiers were stationed here as well, along with facilities to accommodate them including barracks, a dining hall, a kitchen, prisons for slaves and an armory.
The church’s rise to power began when the first acolytes of Kkal Ohm Han to investigate the summit of Crying Eye Mountain claimed the location as their own. This group found that a natural portal to the elemental plane of air had developed within the mountain, causing part of the summit to collapse and disappear. With this newfound access to an elemental plane, the leaders of the church of Kkal Ohm Han moved quickly to take advantage of the situation. They learned of a flying merchant vessel that used the portal to travel back and forth between the elemental and material plane. A plan for an ambush was developed, and the church attempted to seize the vessel and its treasures. The vessel itself did not survive the encounter, but the worshipers of Kkal Ohm Han seized its cargo, including the powerful amulet that the captain wore around his neck.
Eventually, using both the power of the amulet and enslaved dwarves the church had captured, the great temple was built around the rift inside the summit of the mountain. Over time, the church was able to conduct raids on the elemental plane of air and enslave some of its native creatures. This brought the ire of the plane’s denizens, however. These denizens organized attacks on the worshipers whenever they would cross over to the plane of air. Raids upon the temple of Kkal Ohm Han also became more frequent. Eventually the leaders of Kkal Ohm Han’s church decided that access to the material plane would need to be blocked, preventing their new enemies from having the ability to cross over and attack. The stone that is now the floor of the main hall of the temple was originally constructed over the portal as a barrier to keep unwanted creatures out of the material plane. Only a small opening was left, and a gate was created to give the church of Kkal Ohm Han control over who or what could pass through.
While many people captured by the church became food, dwarves were put to work hollowing out the mountain and constructing the various rooms of the temple. But the dwarves covertly worked against their captors. Over the years they built a complex network of hidden tunnels throughout the mountain, giving them secret access to the various rooms of the temple and ways to exit the mountain. Many of those captured were saved because of these tunnels. In the days that the army of Kkal Ohm Han was facing its end, the dwarves used these tunnels to sneak a force of soldiers into the temple with the directive to kill the remaining leaders of the church. In the bloody, violent battle that ensued, these dwarves succeeded in ending the lives of the church’s leaders, but did not survive the assault themselves.
Years after the church of Kkal Ohm Han fell, the gate faltered. Since that time various creatures from the elemental plane of air have found the rift and and crossed over to the material plane. The most recent of these immigrants is the white dragon, Krexakkar. For 140 years the white dragon thrived on the elemental plane of air by subjugating lesser creatures and avoiding those that were more powerful. Eventually, however, competition from other white dragons increased. At the same time, many of the good silver dragons of the plane were beginning to harass him. While looking for new territory on the elemental plane to move to, Krexakkar found the portal that leads to the temple. Believing his times of good fortune on the plane of air had run out, he crossed over to the material plane with his horde and his two children and claimed Crying Eye Mountain as his. Krexakkar covered the portal in the temple’s main hall with a thick layer of ice to keep others that may find it from crossing over. He then made a new home for his treasure hoard at the base of the giant statue of Kkal Ohm Han, which he sees as the crown jewel of his collection. He now terrorizes the small village of Romsedart and the surrounding area, adding to his hoard at the expense of the people that live there.
The main threat to any adventurer who dares enter the temple is of course Krexakkar, but he is not alone. His children, two young white dragons, also spend time in the temple but are more often found in the surrounding land hunting together. Krexakkar also hires creatures from the plane of air to work for him, often as guards while he is away terrorizing the surrounding area. Traps promise to end the careers of would be treasure hunters, and spirits of those victimized by the church haunt some areas. Below the temple in the mountain itself, an ecosystem of darkland creatures thrives in natural caverns that any adventurer trying to access the secret dwarven tunnels will have to travel through.
The reward for an excursion into the mountain may be too great to resist for those that may know about it, regardless of what dangers may be waiting. Krexakkar’s treasure hoard is substantial. In his time on the elemental plane of air he left any enemy he overcame with nothing, claiming any possession of theirs as spoils. His raids on Romsedart and the other settlements of the area only added to the size of his hoard. The temple still holds valuable items of the church of Kkal Ohm Han as well, including weapons and books of history, military strategies and alchemy. The greatest treasure to those who seek power, however, is of course the Amulet of Kkal Ohm Han.
– John Bunger
Douglas And Dragons 