Excavations of the Ancient Temple of Torrel

**Excavations of the Ancient Temple of Torrel**

Beneath the ruins of the Temple of Torrel in the Dreness Wastes west of Holy Zorisz are ancient “dungeons” that were part of the temple understructures and that have survived the ages since the temple itself was destroyed in the upheaval that spelled the end of the Empire of Zorisz. Cyclopean beige stoneworks have weathered the ages in stoic silence. There’s almost nothing left of the temple above, and the access to the understructures was buried and hidden for hundreds of years under these same massive stones. Then something awoke down there and climbed out – a djinn or something similar that had been trapped in the understructures as part of some ancient pact that finally ended.

Now with the entrance stairs exposed, the understructures have gained the attention of a number of sages of Ancient Zorisz who would be excited to commission a group of adventurers to explore the area and bring back both artifacts and knowledge from the site. But of course, others have arrived first, attracted by the violence of the sudden opening of the structures. Local desert tribes of lizard folk known as the sandstalkers have taken an interest in the site and much of the tribe are guarding the outside of the ruins – hiding within the dunes and striking intruders without warning or quarter. The leader of the tribe and a few loyal ‘adventurers’ among their ranks are now within the structure, exploring it for themselves.

The layout of the understructures is divided into three levels – with two routes between the top level and bottom level, with the western (partially collapsed) one essentially bypassing level two completely.

*This is a redraw of a map I used in 2011 – I needed a ruined temple understructure in the desert and pulled out the original map that I drew back then and updated it slightly both in layout (for the adventure) and in style (because I didn’t have the original pencil version anymore).*

*The 1200 dpi versions of the map were drawn at a scale of 300 pixels per square and are 12,000 x 12,600 pixels (40 x 42 squares). To use this with a VTT you would need to resize the squares to either 70 pixels (for 5′ squares) or 140 pixels (for the recommended 10′ squares) – so resizing it to either 2,800 x 2,940 or 5,600 x 5,880, respectively.*

[**https://dysonlogos.blog/2026/04/20/excavations-of-the-ancient-temple-of-torrel/**](https://dysonlogos.blog/2026/04/20/excavations-of-the-ancient-temple-of-torrel/)