D20x5 Places of Pilgrimage

This post is dedicated to theisticgilthoniel, whose birthday is today.

Click the button below for your place of pilgrimage:

Special thanks to Spwack for the generator generator here: http://meanderingbanter.blogspot.com/2018/10/automatic-list-to-html-translator-v2.html

D20	This place of pilgrimage is
1	a glittering blue oasis.
2	a verdant valley, its slopes carved into steps which have long since become draped in roots.
3	in a hollow at the base of a gigantic tree.
4	the epicenter of broad chalk lines streaked across the landscape in a tangled, abstract petroglyph.
5	a soggy island nestled in a fork of a sacred river.
6	a boulder which would be unassuming save for the offerings and written prayers tied all about it.
7	a butte on which stands a great oak split in two by lightning, the charred scar at its trunk still evident where it diverges.
8	a series of shrines on top of pillar-like outcrops poking out of the surf, connected by bridges that get ricketier the further out you go.
9	a river grotto where the wind whistles and the water whispers.
10	a crystal-clear cenote, teams of labourers hauling pilgrims up and down it in baskets.
11	a courtyard within a ruined mud-brick fort, the bricks of one of its walls torn down and made into a road.
12	in a narrow pass between two horn-like hills.
13	on the edge of a smoking volcanic lake.
14	a red hillock where splinters of fossilized bone curve out like grasping claws.
15	a still and subtle grove.
16	a grand and gilded temple that’s changed sects so often over the centuries that deep grooves have been worn into the floor by dragged idols.
17	a ring of standing stones, the original designs which once covered them illegible beneath accumulated ages of graffiti.
18	a wave-whipped seaside cliff, where mist sprays up in pillars to the clouds.
19	a pale and treacherous mountaintop.
20	a slab of white marble jutting from a field of heather.

D20	This place is a place of pilgrimage because
1	it’s said that beneath it sleeps a gentle god who taught humanity of the arts of healing.
2	a great sage meditated there and received enlightenment.
3	true oracles dream of it when they realize their gift.
4	it lies at the intersection of vital ley lines.
5	it was the spot where a faithful hound miraculously stood vigil over the body of its master for weeks without eating or sleeping.
6	it’s where a hero was assumed bodily into the heavens.
7	a devastating plague was first successfully cured there.
8	a talking albino calf gave a sermon there.
9	a portal to the celestial realms once opened there.
10	an army which aligned itself with infernal powers was defeated there.
11	the incorruptible remains of a martyr are interred there.
12	a holy text was penned there.
13	a new star was born in the heavens above it.
14	a terrible divine punishment was lifted there.
15	of the many poems a theologically-inclined poet wrote about it.
16	it rains colourful feathers there every so often.
17	a traveling king disbursed an enormous amount of charity there.
18	a tyrannical wizard's magic failed them there.
19	a deified emperor declared it so, to increase revenues from toll roads.
20	it’s said that a clever saint tricked a host of demons back to hell there.

D20	A power rumoured to be held by this place of pilgrimage is
1	that the anguished and the mad may have peace of mind so long as they sleep within its sight.
2	that children conceived near it will grow up strong and virtuous.
3	that monsters struggle to trespass on its ground.
4	that those who perform the proper rites there receive inspired visions.
5	that prayers made there resound the loudest in the heavens.
6	that old aches and scars will disappear from the bodies of those who visit it.
7	that it allows visitors to hear the voices of dead loved ones.
8	that entrance to a better afterlife is assured to visitors.
9	that even the worst storms and other disasters will touch its site only softly.
10	that visitors there will receive a personal guardian angel.
11	that lies told there smell foul, while true words smell sweet.
12	that those whose remains are brought there or who visited while living are forever-after protected from necromancy.
13	that it allows visitors to share in the joy of ascended souls.
14	that it grants visitors the ability to see the hand of the divine in all things.
15	that it alleviates the wear and weariness of age.
16	that blades sharpened there retain its blessed ability to cut evil, and only evil.
17	that fortunes told there are the most accurate, and least vague or misleading.
18	that the righteous will find themselves tireless and energized here.
19	that abluting oneself there will wash away curses and bad luck.
20	that it's a metaphysical vantage point from which the greater mechanisms of the cosmos may be glimpsed.

D20	Pilgrims that might be met along the road to this place include
1	ascetics leaving bloody footprints, scourging their soles on a forced march.
2	a pair of philosophers bickering about the nature of the Good. They’ll offer their illuminated books to anyone who can resolve their dispute.
3	a goatherd ranting to his flock (and anyone else he passes) that he is the messiah come again.
4	a mendicant dispensing aphorisms for donations of bread and coin.
5	a pregnant mother convinced her coming child is divine, accompanied by her bitter elder children who turned out to be not so blessedly conceived.
6	repentant fugitives fleeing to sanctuary and redemption.
7	a bent and worn knight going to renew the vows they first swore so long ago, along with the fellow travellers they’re warding.
8	a nomadic monk walking a circuit between several holy sites, making sure they’re in proper condition, and being shown the proper veneration.
9	the second-in-line heir to a noble house, advancing their study of religion in advance of being nepotistically appointed to a high position in the priesthood.
10	wretched crusaders returning from campaign, wounds only just now knitting into scars.
11	a hunched figure, wreathed in an ashen cloak: a fallen angel, pondering the mystery of holiness for a path back into heaven’s grace.
12	an eccentric inventor certain that the place's blessing is the key to getting their newest and most exciting invention into working order.
13	an advanced clockwork automaton curious as to whether it has a soul.
14	a hierodule being carried along in a perfumed palanquin by her admirers.
15	a disgraced general who has forsaken the path of violence to learn the ways of peace.
16	a gaggle of orphans working as pack-mules.
17	a warrior-scholar-renunciant living in ditches and perfecting his swordsmanship as a mirror for the perfection of his soul.
18	a band of mummers putting on passion plays.
19	a long-moustached bureaucrat with a cabinet full of scrolls on his back, taking a census of all gods at the behest of his emperor, in case one of them can provide a particular desired miracle.
20	a close-knit clutch of lepers with clanging bells, risking the cruelty of the world beyond their colony in hope of a cure.

D20	This place of pilgrimage is being taken advantage of by
1	touts hawking false relics.
2	bandits preying on traffic.
3	a cult recruiting from pilgrims undergoing a crisis of faith.
4	the local baron, who has recently begun extorting money from visitors.
5	a heresiarch seeking to subvert the place into their power.
6	a venal priest peddling blessings for hand over fistful of silver.
7	a petty spirit falsely claiming to be the place’s guardian to extort sacrifices.
8	a narco-alchemist siphoning off its beatific energy and converting that into a drug.
9	a squad of zealots trying to monopolize the place, certain that no one else is devoted enough to deserve it.
10	a disguised spymaster attempting to recruit informants who will provide them with secrets from far and wide.
11	a crazed abbot who gets pilgrims to join his nearby abbey, then performs bizarre experiments on them once they're trapped within its walls.
12	a vicious hierophant drumming up support for a holy war.
13	a wicked genie adept at twisting even wishes of goodwill to hurt the wish-maker.
14	a clan of horse thieves.
15	a damned specter holding the souls of its victims hostage until it too is saved from hell's talons.
16	farmers getting a free workforce by convincing pilgrims that labouring near the site will grant forgiveness for their sins.
17	a party of iniquitous adventurers making up threats along the road then demanding payment and adulation for pretending to remove these fake threats.
18	a doppelganger who comes by periodically to pick out the pilgrims with the best identities to kill and replace.
19	a pair of invisible imps attempting to outdo each other in merciless mischief.
20	a gang of slavers counting on people thinking a few pilgrims disappear for reasons other than them.