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The building itself is a stepped pyramid shape, with water at the base. The fish people are equally at home in the water or above ground. Alzar leads the party with Wassilon next, since they both speak languages the Kuo-Toan might now. They one they met knew UnderTypic.
The entrance is a low cavity, open to the outside, with no doors. Greenish phosphorescence from lichens combined with the grayish luminosity of slug-like creatures as large as a fist on all of the walls gives the area an undersea appearance. There is a salty tang in the air as well. There is a giant statue in the center on top of a large raised dais, but that is some distance away. There is a hallway and door to the right. The shape of the stones is worn with time, and the architecture here is akin to the that of the elder Dřkkálfar who cared the complex behind the Gates. The entire area does not have the same proportions that land-based creatures would expect and based on the wear, Wassilon comments that it was likely undersea for some time.
There are stairs up to the left, in addition to the door and hallway on the right. The space to the north is a large sunken area with steps leading down before a dais heads back up. There are many hallways and doors leading to this central area. There is traffic in the area, and no one seems to be paying much attention to Alzar or his group. He moves forward and begins to descend. This appears to be an arena which be able to hold up to 2000 humanoid creatures of human size. The Kuo-Toans are a bit bigger and much pudgier. The steps descend into water, but the water is never more than four feet deep, so Alzar moves forward and has everyone else hold their position. He arrives at the dias and there are three altars on three steps, much like a small ziggurat. At the top is a 20’ statue of a malachite impression of a creature with a combination of human female and lobster parts.
On each altar are a large number of shells in a stacked section, and a donation shell, quite large, with 300 or so gp in it. He moves to the second level and third to study the statue. As he does, a gate opens up and he is taken to the Elemental Plane of Water. There, the Sea Mother herself finds him and Geases Alzar. He fails his save. Alzar arrives back to the Shrine.
His geas is thus:
He must either give 60000 gp in gold or gems or jewelry to the Shrine or bring back 60 levels of Dřkkálfar combined for sacrifice. He chooses the second. He is also permanently gifted the ability to speak Kuo-Toan, and he cannot hurt the worshippers of herself – Blibdoolpoolp, he is given knowledge of her service and the other Kuo-Toa will know he has been marked by her and will grant him passage.
(This is actually not how the Shrine is supposed to work, it’s supposed to be your normal attack, assault, take everything, go home, but Alzar is inherently evil, and in a place where evil is embrace and accepted. So I’m turning the Shrine from a place to fear to a place of safety and sanctuary using what Gygax gave me in the book itself in section 4 about non-worshippers reaching the statue and just pushing it.)
Considering how much the Kuo-Toa despise the Dřkkálfar and how few and far between civilizations that aren’t xenophobic or massively evil are here, Alzar get sanctuary now from two evil places – the Duergar outpost and now the Shrine itself.
Six miles away in a Dřkkálfar outpost with a wall and such. Alzar will head out there and take them out, capturing as many as possible. Then he’ll bring them back here for sacrifice. Once he does, his Geas is over.
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