(RPG Blog Carnival) What is Above the Temple of Alasku?

Somewhere in the Dechie Baronial Library, is a short journal of one Ashe Winnebago, an elf, a hated race at the time of his writings.  Around the year 1069, Ashe was trying to earn some coin between adventures and acquired a number of journals and maps related to a Temple of Alasku.  

With his trusted group unavailable, he assembled a rag-tag group of adventurers to plunder its riches.  They were largely successful.  Rescuing some notable persons who would prove instrumental to not only the group, but the entire Kingdom of Crosedes, and the ancient structure which was the Ferasean Empire.  

There are two interesting passages.

"Less than an hour after breakfast, the party arrived at what remained of the ancient village of Alasku. A few foundation stones could be found if you ripped out the underbrush.

Only one notable structure was stilling standing, a small stone hovel.  Its entrance was only blocked by a small (3-foot high) boulder."

While they moved the boulder and investigate the underground temple, the party cleric, Echelon, chose to stay above with the menagerie of animals he travelled with.  He with the help of the local orphan boy, Timmy, tended to the animals and relaxed on the foundations of other buildings in the village surrounding the temple.

On the second day of the adventure: 

"Later in the afternoon, Timmy was quietly playing, digging up rocks and stacking them further around the hovel, when he froze in terror.  Three wolves were working their way to the camp!!!"

The initial overview of the site and nine-year-old Timmy's natural inclination to play with rocks were never followed up with the arrival of the wolves, and the mixing of multiple potions.  

But Ashe Winnebago's had a few falsehoods.  While the cleric and the young boy rested on the overgrown foundation stones, it wasn't for the village.  They underestimated the size and prowess of the temple, when it was still above ground.  

Timmy was well on his way to discovering an elaborate granite floor, covered by decades upon decades of moss and detritus. Well-calcified bodies of monks in a cavern below, and a ghoul-infested crypt were the only obvious remaining signs of a temple below.  Above was an ornate smaller temple, where the original staircase was hidden behind the sanctuary.  But what was it ? 

Prior the "Great Ancien Empire" of Feraso, which united the continent, the Kingdom of Crosedes was a makeshift collection of lords, vassals, and tribes of distant Keltic heritage.  The first temple for Alasku was established by these people, and if the party had investigated the grounds further, the standing stones for it would have been discovered over a small hill 1000 yards from the site of the "new temple."

At an undetermined time, the religious services were moved to the assumed location and a village sprang up.  When the Ferasean Empire finally reached this land, and entities such as the Duchy of Ferrand were formed, the native population adopted some of the religious tenants of the state religion of Akana, and were largely left alone from the proselytizing of the invaders. 

At some point prior to maps published in 526, the construction of a formal Akana-styled stone structure and the barbarian incursions,  Dragonmen Elementalists took hold in the area, and a temple mirroring the Temple of Elemental Evil was built.  

Again, the alleged village was actually part of the sanctuary.  There is little documentation regarding the temple getting razed, but it could be assumed during the unification of the Kingdom of Crosedes under Kings Cesmir I & II, circa 850-890.  The lower level of the temple survived behind a secret door, and collapsed upon itself when the building was torn down.  The "evil" village was destroyed, and it's remnants left to fester, while the forces established the village of Eding along the river.  

Where the stones ended up is a mystery, but it would not be surprising if they were used in the Castle in the Moors, a few miles away, possibly for the larger buildings in the town, such as the Green Griffon (formerly Blue Wizard), or simply sunk into the ground.  

As time passed, the stairwell was re-discovered, and the dungeon was used by multiple groups..  Bugbear tribes, Lizardmen outposts, and many groups of brigands called the well-sealed dungeon home.  During Ashe Winnebago's writings, the complex was shared by Bugbear slavers and an elite remnant of the "Dread Lord" himself, the future King Cervinal II of Crosedes.  The adventurers eliminated the bugbears, plus the normal dungeon threats, but left the Dread Lord's operations relatively intact, including letter "Lady Thaisa" the Dread Lord's daughter (and future Duchess of Hydincall and Queen Mum to King Celowin V).

Once the Dread Lord usurped power from his brother, the temple site was abandoned, but after the Battle of Apotheosis in 1073, rag-tag bands of brigands and goblins hid there for safety, and ultimately set up operations.  Both groups were smart to not engage the battle-hardened residents of Eding (now Dechie), until attempts to rehabilitate the Castle in the Moors brought the temple of the Baron and the King.  

As of the current year (1150?), the status of the temple has become a mystery yet again.  It could be brigands, ne'er do wells, humanoids bands (lizardmen or bugbears), or perhaps the descendants of the original elementalists have returned to bring their temple to its previous glory... 

DM Notes: After the excitement of #RPGaDay, I was enticed to continue the theme of community-based blogging by dipping my toe in the RPG Blog Carnival The theme for the RPG Blog Carnival for September was Anthropology and Archaeology

I was enamored with the first sample question, "What might player-characters find it they just start digging?"  The Temple of Alasku was my first thought, and I proceeded to start a treatise from a "Student of History, Cartography, and Antiquity" at the University of Feraso-Chocin, the the Kingdom of Ras-Prythax.    While Ebbo Palme's writings to his advisor, Galwin Kalbach detailed the reasons why he chose the Temple as his subject matter, as well as the early steps of investigating the village/interviewing the locals, I simply ran out of steam and motivation to complete it for the September RPG Blog Carnival.  I may be the only person still interested, but I felt it appropriate to make some sort of write-up on the hidden history of the site.

Thankfully, the Halloween/horror aspects for this month means I'll be skipping October, but I will keep an eye out for topics each month.  

For reference, the adventure is question is the Temple of Alasku, episode 3  (1999) of the Ballad of the Pigeon God Campaign.   I orginally ran by self-stocked version from the 1st Edition DMG in 1993 (with a group run by a character named Cesmir, and revisited it during my army game in 1995.

The actual dealings with Alasku from the early games, and some ret-conning how it got restocked can be discovered reading episodes #80 and above of the Lost Dispatches of Feraso.  Later episodes explain just how Ashe Winnebago got his hands on the books and maps to begin with.