1001 Mournland Horrors

[RealAlHazred]

Originally posted by Gurv:

207. While traveling across the Mournland, the party comes to a HUGE city hidden in a deep valley. The place is just fantastic, with towers almost too tall to take in with one glance, large enough to house buildings inside, skybridges connecting them, and all kinds of other miraculous architecture. No city like it has ever existed in Cyre. It covers several square miles, and like other places in the Mournland it is populated only by the undisturbed dead.

The city is Sharn.

 

[RealAlHazred]

Originally posted by chaotix42:

208) Known for their talent in breeding hunting dogs, the ir'Tamaress were a Cyran noble family held in high regards in their homeland. Before the Mourning they bred masterful hunting dogs for all the young nobles, during a time in which hunting was quite popular. Also a family versed in diplomacy, their close-knit country club hunting companions were able to pull many strings and call in a sizable amount of favors for their benefit, being noble-bred as they were.

Legend has it that on the night of the Mourning, the ir'Tamaress grand estate was sparred a physical destruction, though left in ruin nonetheless. According to the myth the Tamaress-bred hounds went utterly mad, driven insane by the Mourning. They proceeded to viciously attack and maul any they crossed paths with, until all that remained was the stain of death. To this day the supposed ir'Tamaress estate is home to a roving pack of yeth hounds, some fifty strong. Such a gathering of beasts has discouraged treasure hunters from attempting to plumb the depths of the estate for treasure, but a few of the yeth hounds have been killed, with a most disturbing and common occurrence accompanying these kills. As one of the yeth hounds dies, in its final spasms it convulses and vomits something up. It collapses to the ground, finally dead, as the regurgitated mass squirms, and then begins to cry. An infant's cry.

Closer inspection reveals it to be a human newborn baby. Both males and females have been found after killing these specific yeth hounds, and some have been brought out of the Mournland to be cared for by foster parents. It is unknown the exact significance of this phenomenon, but the children are getting older, and have so far remained quite healthy. In fact, a few may even be old enough to speak a few words...

 

[RealAlHazred]

Originally posted by zombiegleemax:

209) the party is engulfed by the soil and is confronted by a giant baby with a poopie diaper and he's crying...

 

[RealAlHazred]

Originally posted by Gurv:

210: The party must cross the Mournland to reach a far away goal. Going around wasn't an option, so they equipped themselves and prepared themselves mentally for the worst. They cross the entire Mournland, seeing the well-known fields of unrotting corpses, the barren wastelands left behind, and crumbling towns.

Other than being an unpleasant place to look at, nothing bad happens.

 

[RealAlHazred]

Originally posted by timothyx:

(211) The group of heroes descend on a battle field of wounded... the party mage can carry 14 of them with his spells, but the party has to leave one person behind....

 

[RealAlHazred]

Originally posted by hida_gaimetsuma:

212) a huge battle with two armies charging each other. When a solider is killed and he hits the ground, the body stays but a copy of him charges in again. So the armies are fighting on hundreds of copies of their own corpses.

213) a magnificent manor sitting in the middle of no where. As the party approaches they see that every thing, the walls, the roof, the things inside of the house, are made from still-bleeding flesh and bone.

214) A town where all of the clothes are animated going about their normal lives, taking, working, playing etc, and knit new children instead of giving birth

215) a creature covered with barbed tentacles, bleeding from dozens of wounds. To hurt the party the beast cuts it self. Killing it seriously injures a party member ( maybe kills him)

216) same as above but if party member dies, he resurrects the next day and transforms in to one of these beasts and begins to hunt his former friends.

217) a pile of loot. if the party tries to take something they are assaulted by winds screaming " PUT THAT BACK!"

 

[RealAlHazred]

Originally posted by rizzolfish:

218. The PCs find an abandoned lightning rail station with a working lightning rail, no stones are left around but the rail itself is intact. Inside, the ghosts of all the passengers that were supposed to use the lightning rail that day are patiently waiting for it to leave the station. Any member of House Orien who boards the Rail is asked when it will be leaving and what the hold-up is. If the PC's can get some conducting stones and move the Rail, all of the passengers will be more than happy to talk about what has happened for the last few years they have been waiting. Once the Rail leaves the Mournland, the PC's have a now-haunted but happy group of ghosts that ride around with them.

 

[RealAlHazred]

Originally posted by zombiegleemax:

219.

The party find a small girl, dirty, ragged and unhappy, but alive and well. She apparently has been subsisting off what knowledge her farmer parents taught her to forage; interestingly, the mutated, sparse vegetation and animals of the Mournland are purified by her touch, and she heals the small portions of the land as she goes (she can heal the PCs), however the corruption soon returns. The girl is frightened and lost, and the PCs are the only people shes seen in the years since the Mourning. If the PCs attempt to take her out of the Mournland however she sickens within a fortnight, at which point her gift starts to corrupt normal life into the horrors of the Mournland, she doesn't die for 3 months but becomes an invalid one month after being removed from the Mournland. Food and water turn grey, to ash or blood etc. and seem barely to keep her alive. The only way to heal her is to return her to the Mournland, where she must live; the only one who can survive there, condemned to a lonely life.

 

[RealAlHazred]

Originally posted by zombiegleemax:

Here are some “lighter” ideas to actually give some people a little hope within the Mournland

220: Once the PC’s reach the peak of a hill, cliff etc. a visible semi-transparent multi-colored dome surrounds a small village. In the center of the village is a 40ft tower (50ft total with a large pole), the dome seems to be centered at the peak of the tower and covers the majority of the village, the parts of the village that are not covered and appear to be rubble, while the rest seem to be persevered…(this is completely left open)

221: An obvious entrance to a cave has been barricaded. Deep (very deep) within the cave are survivors of the Mourning…It would appear that a small town has made their home here. The people seem to have a magical artifact the can create food and drink at will!

222: PC’s come to the ridge of what was once forest, the trees are now blackened and withered. Deep within the wasted forest blackened trees have been turned into living constructs, VERY much like the warforged. In fact a warforged has discovered them and has been teaching them…

223: PC’s discover a Temple of the Sovereign Host within the temple nine priest (one for each god) worshiping their Sovereign. The priest dare not exit the temple in fear that breaking the blessing that their gods have given them…

224: PC’s discover a small pond where the water is 100% clear. A white sand spreads about 15’ from the edge of the water in all directions (including underneath it). The pond radiates with magic and no evil creature can get within 15’ of the pond, however the protection does not prevent missile weapons from evil beings to enter. The water is pure and has the ability to heal wounds (1hp/1hr while touching the water or something like that) Buried under the sand (under the water), is a greater dragonshard attuned to House Jorasco (this should be extremely difficult to find and is NOT in the center).

Remember, just there are probably issues or something odd about all of these (except 224, but you can have a great encounter with evil critters to offset things) Maybe, some survivors are content with the way they are, maybe others want to leave but are afraid, or maybe some are willing to go but are being prevented by the leader of the survivors. Others could be some peoples could have deformities and where actually rescued after the Mourning etc.

 

[RealAlHazred]

Originally posted by aelryinth:

225) The party feels the ground shake from immense footsteps...poom...poom...poom...getting closer. Little pools of water all about are vibrating with each heavy step...

A very large Warforged Titan comes out of the mist, and sees them. It's head is surrounded by sickening yellow-green flames, and the construct's features are overlain by the spectral visage of the fiend possessing the construct. The warped and distorted spectral body of the fiend seems to trail after every motion the warforged makes as the trapped and insane fiend screams, and the Titan heads for them...

226) As above, heavy footsteps, but this time, a half-fiend tyrannosaur looms out of the mists and gives a happy cry on seeing fresh meat. It looks impossibly gaunt, almost skeletal, but that doesn't change its hunger at all...

For even more fun, give it some elite barbarian halfling riders in a hookah, all with filed teeth and gibbering with laughter as they shoot bone-tipped arrows that wail in the air...

227) A swath of ground, blasted to sand in a cone, purest, unnerving white. Nothing grows there, and the mist seems to avoid the area entirely. It points a short distance away, where a viscous black smear bubbles and emits the Mournland mist, and each gasp of mist wails as it is pulled free of the corruption and rot and into the mist all about. Indeed, as the bubbles rip free of the tar-like filth, the oozing strands looks like malformed limbs trying in vain to hold onto the bubbles of screaming mist, as if clutching at pieces of their souls...

228) A crowd of people on their knees, heads back and mouths open, flesh blasted off petrified bones, arms spread wide, yet clothes immaculate. They are all facing due east. A priest of Dol Arrah leads this congregation who faced the doom coming for them.

229) Two lines of soldiers, swords buried point down in the glistening green grass. They wear the mark of Brellish and Cyran troops. Some of them are clasping hands as warriors, and all have resolute expressions on their perfectly preserved faces from where they lay.

230) The ground rumbles, and a stampede is coming! The ground seems to be open and there is no cover. A screaming horde of Dhakaani troops bursts out of the mist, screaming in terror as they whip mounts, throw away weapons and shields, and otherwise run howling for their lives. Just behind this whole legion of troops are others...humans, mostly, but a wild assortment of races in varying gear and nationality.

Sharp eyed party members will notice the goblins are all undead. If they can survive the stampede, being trampled, and being swung at by goblins frantic to get them out of the way, and the people behind them, too, they are fine. If any PC's are killed, one round later their corpse rises and runs screaming after the rest of the stampede, bound to try and flee the Mournland with the rest of the victims of the fleeing Dhakaani.

===Aelryinth