Temple of Hissith

The temple of Hissith is an ancient cavern in the northern Winterspine Mountains, long forgotten by all but the frost Giants, who still worship Hissith as a deity and journey there as a pilgrimage sporadically.

## History

The temple is the lair of the silver dragon Hissith, but the dragon grew old over thousands of years and retired to protect it's treasure in its twilight. The dragon was revered as a god by the giants, and they built a temple in the mouth of the cave while the dragon slept. The giants would bring offerings of gold and food to the dragon regularly, and the dragon showed its appreciation by not destroying the giants living in its territory.

There are stories about Hissith and her 'silver breath' and her ability to turn any item into silver by breathing on it. At one point an army of ten thousand warriors attempted to take her down and raid her treasure stores, but in one breath she froze them to the bone and turned their bones to silver. It is said that her fury was so cold that the spirits of the dead haunt the fields of silver bones forever, having no time to even realize they'd been slain.

It was said that Hissith was visited by a powerful wizard who requested an item from her hoard, her signature weapon known as Hissith's Kiss. When Hissith refused, the wizard permanently turned her to stone and took what he wanted anyway. Hissith still lives in spirit within the walls of the cavern but can do little to protect her hoard from invaders. When the giants learned of this, they built the temple even larger, so as to obstruct the cavern entrance so that no one can enter. The giants still worship Hissith to this day.

## Layout

The temple was built by giants, so one would expect piled stones and mortar, but they took great care in crafting the temple from worked stone. The temple has not been breached in centuries except by the Frost giant jarls who still observe worship, and they are easily able to travel through the massive 50-foot tall heavy stone doors.

Smaller folk will find it difficult to open said doors, and will have to find alternate way to travel through the temple. There are plenty of challenges along the way, large pits, undead silver guardians, ice elementals and oozes that keep the cavern clean and free of pests.

### Outer courtyard

The cavern on approach looks like a giant cavernous mouth, made of ice and snow. As you near, you can start to see the worked stone wall that was erected to block passage into the cavern, as well as a field of partial standing skeletons frozen in place, their bones covered in silver, they are known as the silver host of Hissith. There are many openings near the top of the wall built into the cavern, but they are around 150+ feet off the ground. The only entrance to the temple is a set of 50-foot tall stone doors, which require a DC 30 check to open.

### Inner chamber

Hissith's inner chamber is a spectacular ice cavern in the center of which sits Hissith's former body, now turned to stone. A group of Galeb Duhr have taken to worshiping the dragon's statuesque form, as the latent magic in the dragon's body has crystallized the stone over the past few centuries, and now sparkles and gleams like a giant icy diamond.

### The Galeb Duhr guard

The galeb duhr are mostly friendly if you can stand to listen to them talk agonizingly slow, and respect their reverence of earth and the dragon herself. They are very polite but shy, and will usually not make themselves known unless it is necessary.

Hisstih's hoard is protected by a group of galeb Duhr guard with silver embedded in their stone bodies that are not so friendly, and if any item is removed they will attack. They are hostile if awoken, but only are awoken if an item it removed from the hoard. One item will only awaken one Galeb Duhr guard. The friendly galeb duhr revere the silver guard but will not attack the party for engaging them, though they will cease to speak with the party and will attempt to drive them out with intimidation if they steal from the hoard without Hissith's permission.