I've got the crypt, help me make it ... cryptic

[thoth93]

So a group of friends have asked me to run a D&D campaign for them. We make characters on Sunday, I expect I'll probably start properly with either "Slaying Stones," the revamped and improved version of "Keep on the Shadowfell" available online, or something similar when we play again in two weeks.

But I wanted to give them something to do with those shiny new characters, so I whipped up a little dungeon/crypt crawl. A few rooms with animated skeletons, trapped coffins, hidden doors and the like of the sort my D&D buddies and I used to love back in the 1E days. A good old dungeon crawl.

Maybe it's because it's 3:15 a.m. and I really should be in bed. Maybe work has just drained my brain. Maybe I'm just out of juice. But for the life of me, I can't even come up with a good, one-sentence explanation for WHY the characters would be engaging in this bit of tomb-robbing.

Sure I could go with some handwavy "the local Lord/area hedge wizard/high cleric of Pelor/suspicious character you just met in the local inn has hired you to enter the crypt of Clan Calister and recover a magic bauble of great antiquity," and that might suffice. Maybe the party's wizard found an old map or something and they just wanted to check it out.

But I want something a bit more interesting than that, even though this is really just a chance to go in, smash some things, and maybe collect a few small shiny bits before we get into the meat of the matter.

I've got in in my head that these were evil folks, back in the wild and wooly days before the Nentir Vale became the points-o-light place it is. They were necromancers, and the whole place is trapped and filled with undead guardians. And it's not because a place of sanctity has been corrupted or because some wizard's broken in and started raising the dead. It's that way because the folks who made the place A) hoarded magic items and power, B) were pretty darned evil and C) believed that since they couldn't take their stuff with them, they would rather inter it in a deliberately-guarded vault to keep away the riffraff.

I'm probably overthinking this. And maybe there's nothing wrong with just saying, "you're here, there's treasure, go get it," especially given the goals. But any shreds of creativity the posting community might choose to toss my way would be most appreciated. I'm thinking of placing the crypt itself near Winterhaven, so maybe there would be a chance to tie it somehow into H1. Dunno.

Thanks, all.

Brian

 

[Geffor]

I always like to make sure that the party has a good reason for being together. An introductory module is a good place to lay out the back story.

A couple of options I've used :

1) Each of the party comes across an old diary, great-gramps reminiscence or other message from the past that tells them that one of their ancestors went adventuring, saved the world etc. etc. and was finally defeated wherever the introduction is set. They're adventurers, surely they'll want to find out what happened This was the start of a trail that ended up with the party fulfilling a prophecy that said that the world would be saved again by the same people (now reborn in their descendants).

2) Each of the party finds an ancient coin in the road and then has recurring dreams about a great hoard hidden wherever the introduction is set. Just by chance!!!, they all turned up at the same inn on the same day and all started asking what was known about the dungeon. This was the start of a trail based on 'higher powers' manipulating the party for their own amusement. Remember 'Trading Places' ?

 

[davep123]

Hello,

I'm a 'lurker' on these forums and rarely post, but for some reason an idea popped into my head when I read your request for a motivation for the party's tomb robbery.

The tomb's undead boss has awakened after centuries of slumber, but is trapped in her burial chamber. To regain her full power she needs to drain the life essence/blood of some unfortunate living folk. She sends out her thoughts into the lands nearby to try to find some suitable victims. She needs people capable of making it through all the traps and critters in the rest of the tomb, but who don't seem powerful enough to defeat her when they make it through to her burial chamber. (Naturally she'll overestimate her own abilities like all megalomaniacal baddies.) Only the PCs fit the bill. She sends them dreams, beseeching their aid, appearing in the dreams as she did in life (beautiful with a noble bearing or whatever).

The PCs dutifully head to the tomb. While fighting through the complex, they may find or decipher clues that hint at her evil nature in the past. When they finally reach her in her burial chamber, she at first uses illusion magic to make herself appear as in the dreams. If the PCs have figured out her true nature, they should be prepared for her attack. Otherwise she gets the drop on them. The moment where her "facelift" melts away revealing her skeletal visage should be the big shock-moment.

Anyway, I think something like that could be worked in without too much trouble. And if the PCs figure out she is evil ahead of time, they would still have motivation to reach her and stop her to prevent her summoning some other poor saps via dreams.

I hope that's useful. Let us know how you get on.

Dave

 

[d2OKC]

I did a similar thing in my current campaign. I wanted to get the players together and find a way for the party to form.

The characters were all strangers and were all at the execution of someone they all had reason to hate (before the game started, I asked them all to give me reasons their character hated this guy). Just before he was hanged, they were attacked by a group of mysterious assassin-types and a tamed, low-level Hezrou.

After the fight (the Goliath fighter made sure the hanging took place during the combat, which was pretty cool), they found a strange symbol on both the assassins and the hanged man, so they went investigating. When they questioned the deceased's old friend he told them a story about going into the family crypt when they were young and seeing the symbol written on the floor in blood - the PCs had a lead to solve the mystery of the assassins, and I had a way to get them into their first delve!

I'd suggest finding a way to link the crypt with KotS somehow, maybe Kalarel was careless while gathering undead minions, and they are led to this crypt? I don't remember enough about the module to really be helpful there, unfortunately.

 

[Neubert]

You said:
"..A) hoarded magic items and power.."
Perhaps a reason would be that a family member of a character has a strange illness and a magical item inside the crypt can remove the disease/illness/whatever.
I was thinking a sort of necrotic disease that can be removed with a container of sorts that store necrotic energies? The container would have been used by necromancers that want "portable" necrotic energy for creating undead.


Otherwise, I really like davep123's idea, though that may require a little more preparation to set up.

 

[Quickleaf]

If you have a main quest worked out already, one way to run your crypt encounter adventure while maintaining a sense of continuity is to have the PCs in the midst of some other task related to the main quest when....

* Suddenly the ruins crack beneath them and they plummet into the crypt slow, miraculously surviving a lethal fall. Their ally above is taking heat from an enemy and tells them the crypt should connect up with <insert location> and he'll meet them there.

* The villains seal the PCs inside the crypt as a malicious way of getting them out of the picture. Maybe the PCs are on the clock to get out in time to foil the villain's plot.

 

[Ferdil]

Sorry to hijack, but where can I find this revamped version of KotS?

 

[catastrophic]

I think dave's idea is pretty cool, but if you're looking for a quick option, consider this:

They have to bury somebody in the crypt.

The last descendant of the family, a rather unpopular local noble, has finally died of old age. He was suspected of many things and everyone knows the rumors about his family's sinister past but. . . . to gain access to his land, legally, the townsfolk must honor his will, including the clause about laying him to rest in his family crypt, deep within the hedge maze on his lands.

So the pcs are the people hired, or called upon to act as his pallbearers, and put him to rest. Of course, as soon as they place his coffin into it's alcove in the crypt, a trap triggers, the exit slams shut, and door deeper into the crypt spring open.

They could even have a letter with them, as part of the will, to be opened once he is laid to rest- but rather than whatever they thought it would be, it contains the mockery of the bitter old noble, who vows to rise from the grave, fed by the death of those who bore him here.

Then it's just a matter of finding their way out alive, and afterwards, there could be any number of plot hooks- or encounters- waiting in the old manor house on the hill.

 

[Colmarr]

Sorry to hijack, but where can I find this revamped version of KotS?

Here.

 

[Robtheman]

A bit of backstory to tie the party to the crypts.

Being that this crypt is inherently creepy and close to Winterhaven, teenage boys and girls would no doubt dare each other to enter the facility. Those that do feel an palpable chill run through them.

Rumor has it that 2 boys and a girl from a farmstead near Winterhaven went into the crypt a few decades back. They never returned. When a group of adults ventured in they found no sign of them or their passage. One adult was hurt quite badly by a trap. The adults determined the spring blade trap would have surely stopped the inexperienced kids. Adults believe the kids ran away from their alcoholic father. Youth of Winterhaven keep the rumors alive.

What happened to the kids? Did any of your players grow up in or around Winterhaven? Would the farmer give a minor reward for venturing in and returning with word of his children? Is one of the players related to one of the kids that disappeared (Stand by Me style adventure)?

Have fun.