Oracle of the Mantis Knight

This is a small dungeon for D&D 5e and other analog adventure games.

A lost merchant recently stumbled out of the great western jungle. In the village pub, the wild-eyed man told of a strange stone structure hidden deep in the wilderness. A gang of halfling delinquents had the man give them directions to the place and set off hoping to find ancient treasures. The barkeep is offering 50 gold coins for someone to find the halflings, one of which is his nephew, Bolfurg, and bring them back.

“They are good lads really. They think themselves brave adventurers but they’ve done little more than rob an old grave or two. Please find the little idiots and send them back here.”

The Oracle is an ancient observatory created by a race of space-faring mantids who disappeared from this planet long ago—all but one. Zegdefziat, a mantid necromancer and warrior has spent ages in this observatory scouring the stars for signs of other mantids. Using ancient mantid technomagic, the blood-powered Oracle can tap into a system of telescopes throughout the universe. Zegdefziat controls ghoul servants he regularly sends out into the jungle to find victims to power the Oracle.