Round 3! These fog symbols are scaled at x4.

The trainees who survive still have two final tests before they graduate: the Trial of Fire and Ice, and the Trial of the Elements. Those who succeed at both trials will join the ranks of the monks of Zhao Guang Si. Those who fail are generally dead.

For the Trial of Fire and Ice, the initiate must climb the cliff walls without benefit of rope and then make their way through the Hu0 Yu Bing Caverns to the Labyrinth of Fire and Ice, a path magically made of ice and molten lava.

In addition to venomous snakes and giant spiders, the caverns are home to two undead perils as well. When a trainee dies in the caverns, their body is left to rot. Once the worms have picked the bones clean, their bones reanimate as a skeleton, and will attack the next trainees who enter. In addition, their spirits also haunt the caverns and can attack those who enter. (I used purple will-o-wisps to look like the spirits' eyes.)

There are two magical shards of crystal that trainees can try to get, which will help with both the Labyrinth of Fire and Ice as well as with the Trial of the Elements. The first is a shard from a red crystal on the other side of a pool of lava. If the lava wasn't barrier enough, the room is also guarded by a pair of lesser demons.

The second is a blue crystal on the other side of an icy lake in a room guarded by a pair of ice devils.

Trainees don't need to even try to get shards from either crystal, but they will sure help if they do.

At the end of the caverns is the Labyrinth of Fire and Ice: an icy path marked by red hot lava. A statue on the other side of the room will animate when anyone enters, and tell them that the only exit is a teleportation portal in the center of the labyrinth. It will only activate for those who walk the path. If anyone attempts to bypass the path, it will not activate.

Every turn that a trainee walks the path, they must make a Constitution saving throw. Failing results in cold damage unless they possess a shard of the blue crystal. They must also make a Dexterity saving throw every turn. Failing means they slip and touch the lava, resulting in fire damage unless they possess the red shard.

If they make it to the teleportation circle in the center, they are teleported to the Trial of the Elements.

Here are the five above-ground levels of the Zhao Guang Si Temple (the basement will be separate).

Toggle: LIGHTING layer to show/hide the red glow throughout most of the temple.

Description

At the Zhao Guang Si monastery, a five-story pagoda temple rises through the mists and clouds. The wooden walls are painted with a dark lacquer, and the lanterns are covered with a red gauze that gives the interior an ominous red glow. A center oaken beam rises through every floor, providing structural support for the temple. 

First Floor

The first floor is dominated by a 40-foot statue of a man sitting cross-legged. Although there are four windows, two on each wall flanking the statue, they generally remain closed and shuttered so that the only light comes from the red lanterns.

Second Floor

This floor consists primarily of a balcony overlooking the temple floor below. The statue is large enough to still be higher than the monks standing on the balcony. As with the other windows throughout the temple, the windows here are generally shuttered.

Third Floor

Except for a few closets for storing equipment, this floor primarily consists of a training room where trainees can spar with each other until they drop from exhaustion.

Fourth Floor

The library on this floor is the only room where the lanterns are not shrouded in red gauze, and the windows may remain open to allow for reading by daylight. 

Fifth Floor

The grandmaster has an office on this floor, but much of the floor is dedicated to the Chamber of Rituals, where it is said that senior monks may perform dark magic to enhance their abilities.

Ralf does demonstrate it at the end of this "Fractal Terrains to Parchment World" tutorial (around the 38 minute mark), using a full world Parchment Map that he had created the week before.

A few tweaks, including increasing the size of the wormhole and adding a glow.

Here's the inside of ones of the hag's caves. Outside, you'll see her cauldron over a fire pit along with some gruesome trophies: skulls and scalps on pikes. (Also added bed a of fungi outside). Bones dumped in a heap in the opening area. "Bedroom" area off to the left -- the bed is just a pile of dried leaves. Some cells for captives (fresh meat!) with grasping vines to keep captives "shackled" and carnivorous roots barricading the doorways. And in the middle, steps going down...

Oh, and I reduced the opacity of the drawn shadow to 40%, hoping that will make it less "floaty."

I played around with Edge Fade settings on the TERRAIN ROCK sheet and settled on an Edge Width of 4 units, an Inner Opacity of 100%, and an Outer Opacity of 25%. (In comparison, the grass, earth, and other textures have a width of 15 units, an Inner Opacity of 100%, and an Out Opacity of 0%.)

Here's how it looks full size, plus a few coastal zooms.

I decided against trying to "erode" the levels of the ziggurat. It was a lot to change, and I decided that I will keep the technique in mind next time I do one. Instead, I focused on adding layers of the sand texture to each level of the temple (except for the top portion that the priests are more diligent about sweeping). I tried to vary the patterning by starting drawing from different corners, but I'm not sure that helped much. I might alternate which of the sand textures are used, as I did set each to different scalings. I like the color and scaling of #4 the best but I really should change it a little so you don't see angled paths of no sand like on the north face.

I also added the edge of a mountain using the same techniques as the dunes, but with the bevel isn't smoothed as much, and I used a dark brown earth fill. Maybe I should move the mountain to the NW or NE corner?

Made some good progress, including labeling some of the primary businesses and points of interest. I also widened it a bit to make room for a legend. The text was a little hard to read so I added a semi-transparent back. Let me know if it's still too hard to read, and what you'd recommend to help that (make the back less transparent? darker or lighter shade?)

Working on the Swamp Hags' lair now.

A year ago for Halloween, I did a series of maps experimenting with creating a swamp witch's lair using three styles: Dungeons of Schley, Marine Dungeons, and Forest Trail. Of the three, Marine Dungeons was my favorite. This time, I decided to experiment with using Darklands City, because I love the green hue of the water effects. I wasn't happy with how it was turning out, so I experimented with using Creepy Crypts, with some of the sheet effects on Darkland City's water brought over.

But I still wasn't happy, so I went back to Marine Dungeons. Last time I used Marine Dungeons for a swamp, I had to play with the sheet effects on the water to give it a swampy vibe. This time, I discovered right away that simply changing the background from the lovely tropical beach sand to a more muddy earth color immediately changes the water, too. This doesn't change any of the sheet effects, it just changes the background from Marine Dungeon's sand to the CA181 Dirt 03 from Forest Trail.

This also makes use of symbols and effects from Creepy Crypts, Forest Trail, and Darklands City (plus tentacles from Sinister Sewers because I wanted the green tentacles). This is a battlemap view with the treetops hidden so you can battle beneath the branches.

This is still a work in progress. Among other things, I need to add tons more trees on the land and in the water, plus more dirt and vegetation patches. And lots more algae.

There are three hags in the swamp hags' coven. Each has her own thatch cottage elevated on pillars, and then the slightly larger thatched cottage in the southeastern side is their ritual room. The hags use ladders to get into their private quarters, but the ritual room also has stone steps descending into the swamp water. You can also see the bone bridge connecting this area to the teleportation portal.

Here's the teleportation portal (from Creepy Crypts). I was going to add the glow symbol from DD3 but the effect wasn't as subtle as I wanted, so I drew a purple polygon on a sheet with an inner edge fade that goes from 0% opacity at the edges to 40% in the center. I may redraw it with a longer radius. (The purplish dots are will-o'-wisps.)

And here are the "prisons" for the hags' captives. Muddy pits contained by low walls (about one foot off the ground) where victims are submerged halfway up their chests. The tentacles keep them restrained and also fight off rescuers, but their suctions also administer a low-dose poison that keeps the captives asleep most of the time.