Fourscore & Nevermore

Rot In Pines - OSR Generic Module

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d6 Encounters
1 d6 Corpse Fly AC always hit, HD 0d+1,
ATK bite 1 dmg and NPCs must check morale
2 d6 Skeleton Torso MV half standard, AC as leather, HD 1d,
ATK ankle grab 1×d4
3 d4 Skeleton AC as leather, HD 3d,
ATK claw 1×d6
4 d2 Werewolf Skeleton AC as leather, HD 3d,
ATK bite 1×d8
5 1 Spiked Cancer Skeleton AC as plate, HD 8d,
ATK: 2×d6 and save or die of bone cancer in 10d6 days
6 Compus (single foe, statblock below)

Compus, Crazed Tomb Squatter

AC as cloth
HD 4d
ATK coprolite club 2 × d6
SPECIAL while motionless in darkness, indistinguishable from corpse
TACTICS hide in sarcophagus for ambush, imitate the gods or wailing ghosts

Bald, pale, and emaciated. Emits an awful stench. Stained teeth and rolling marble eyes.
Cannibal, coward.


Wants: light sources, drill & long-handle spoon to extract corpse-wax. It's running out.


Treasure

  • 1 Coprolite Club
  • 1 Izan Signet Ring
    Worth 300 GP.
  • 1 Jar of Red Corpse Wax
    potion, doubles strength for 10 mins.

This tomb complex was once controlled by the noble house of Izan, though it has since been abandoned. House Izan are a bellicose line, owing to their secret lycanthropy.


Suggested Scenario Hook

You were contracted by a member of House Izan to reclaim the dungeon. "There's a tomb on the borderlands, long abandoned, but we've recently recaptured the region from pagans. The house records say the ancestors there are quite lively, and we can't risk them dishonouring us at a funeral. Go to the tomb, see if any of them are up, and put them down if necessary. Don't cause excessive damage. Destroy or hide anything that could harm our image."

Reward: 2d6 × 100GP


The main entrance to the dungeon is at the end of a small ravine, its walls are rough mud and dense with foliage. Stray cobbles suggest there was once a path. There's nothing else but towering pines for miles and miles. Inside: All doors are iron. All rooms are unlit, except room 6.

1. Entrance

  • Rusted Double Doors (locked).
  • White Plaster Walls, Red Coving (decorated with full moons).
  • Two Sarcophagi (both white plaster, both closed: one contains wondrous white corpse wax, the other repulsive regular corpse wax).

Treasure

  1. 2 Bucketfuls White Corpse Wax.
    Tastes sweet, heals all diseases.

Mural

A mural on the west wall depicts an albinistic woman in fine armor, healing the sick. She is the immortal head of House Izan

2. Main crypt

  • White Plaster Walls, Red Coving (coving decorated with skulls)
  • Skull Rack (west wall)
  • Six Sarcophagi (white plaster).

Sarcophagus Contents

  • S3: Open, empty. Lid lays beside it.
  • S4: Sealed, rattles. 1 Cancer Skeleton (see encounter table)
  • S6: Sealed. Lid depicts merchant. Contains shiny silver corpse wax.
  • S1, S2, S5: Sealed, inanimate skeleton.

Treasure

  1. 2 Bucketfuls Silver Corpse Wax.
    Tastes sour, each bucket can be processed into silver dust worth 100 GP.

3. Deadfall Trap

Trap

The pressure plate here triggers a deadfall trap, which smashes through the small double doors. Damage as mace × 2


The heavy iron battering ram is initially affixed to the ceiling with hooks, triggering it prompts laughter from the skeletons in the room to the south.

4. Couple's Coffins

  • White Plaster Walls, Red Coving (decorated with roses)
  • Two Skeletons (sitting in sarcophagi, arguing).
  • Mural (house Izan glyph & motto: white wolf by crossed swords, "Balance By Battle").

The Skeletons

Are a married couple: Fluvian & Delania Izan.


They're locked in an eternal debate about why the tomb was abandoned.

Fluvian predicts that no one has died in battle since the last visit, they're too skilled.

Delania predicts that the effete Izan youth have given up on war.


They both know the method to open the secret door linking rooms 5 & 7.

They Want

  1. Compus expelled from the tomb.
  2. To know why the tomb was abandoned.

Both de-animate if they learn the true reason that house Izan abandoned the tomb (they were defeated by pagans and lost control of the hex).

5. Ceremonial Chamber

  • Holy Altar.
  • Mouldering Wooden Chairs.
  • Abandoned Ritual Site (pentagram on floor, graffiti depicts a lion-headed serpent, elvish script reads: "HAIL SATANVS")
  • Magnificent Ceiling Mosaic (with embedded gemstones).

Treasure

  1. 1 Heirloom Ruby. Worth 3000 GP. Engraved with the glyph of house Izan, most fences won't touch it.
  2. 3 Pearl. Worth 300 GP.
  3. 1 Spinel. Worth 100 GP.

Secret Door

An engraving on the altar engraving reads: "Show thy kinship and enter". The southwestern wall is enchanted, speaking the motto of House Izan ("Balance By Battle") causes it to dissolve into mist, revealing a doorway area 7.

6. Corpse Pit

  • Mass Grave (dozens of inanimate skeletons thrown in haphazardly).
  • Hole (in ceiling above grave, produces dim daylight, leads out through the roots of a pine tree, hidden by foliage from outside).
  • Mud Walls (scraped out by skeletal hands).
  • Brick Wall (south)

Danger Zone

Always roll for an encounter upon entering this room, and every time the grave is disturbed.

Mirror World

Pushing down through the skeletons, gravity reverses, and you emerge in a nightmare plane. It is identical to the hex in which the dungeon is located, except:

  • It is always night, under the blood moon.
  • The forest floor is dense with skeletons, which animate in response to any loud noise (roll for encounter).
  • The hex repeats in all directions, tiling, though the dungeon is only present in the original hex.

The encounter table is the same as the dungeon, except Compus is replaced by Eridan the Accursed.

Eridan the Accursed

AC as chain
HD 10d+20
ATK 2 × greatsword
After losing 20 HP, breaks right arm free and switches hand: gains 2 additional attacks and +2 tohit.
SPECIAL Upon taking damage for the first time each turn:
Screams and awakens more skeletons, roll d4+1 on the encounter table.

Raging half-wolf warrior, feral and radiating heat. Wrapped in locks, belts, and chains. Right arm bound behind back.


Treasure

  • 1 Petal Greatsword +2, or +6 in pointless conflict, eats gold: next strike gains +1 damage per 100 GP.
  • Killing Eridan cures house Izan's lycanthropy.

7. Compus' Secret Lair

  • Stark Stone Brick.
  • Six Skeletons (chained up: five skulls obliterated, one pierced by silver spear).
  • Habitation (bedroll, scattered glowsticks and filth).

Treasure

  1. 3 Glowstick. Un-snapped, will glow like candles: pink, yellow, cyan.
  2. 1 Silver-Like-Steel Spear.