Dungeon23: the Ziggurat of Potent Waters

The Barrow of the Egg is a megadungeon that someone built a ziggurat on top of.  That Ziggurat of Potent Waters was long known as a place of power, coveted by wizards and priests alike until an earthquake diverted the river that ran past it, leaving the land to dry up into a barren, rocky desert.  Over the centuries, the ziggurat was forgotten.

Until recently.

A priest has moved into the ziggurat and is attempting to uncover its forgotten secrets.  (I’m describing him as a castrated priest of Hekate, but any Chaotic/Neutral Evil deity willing to countenance human sacrifice will do).  To aid him in his work, he’s hired a few mercenaries who have themselves gathered a group of disaffected peasants they’ve armed and trained.  The mercenaries, backed up by the peasants, have been hitting desert caravans.  The primary goal has been collecting water and sacrificial victims, though the mercenaries have been happy to appropriate for themselves any portable loot.  The rest, including the bodies of men and beasts, has been buried in the desert.  They prefer to hit caravans leaving from a nearby fortified caravansary, as these will have the most water to steal and will take the longest to be missed. 

While the priest has taken up residence himself inside the Ziggurat of Potent Waters, the mercenaries and their newly-minted bandits live in tents in the ruins outside the ziggurat.  

There are 32 peasant bandits:

PEASANT BANDIT: AC 10; HD <1; HP 2; #ATT 1; DMG by dagger or heavy crossbow; ML 6; XP 5.

Art made with Stable Diffusion and GIMP.