D&D 5E Ideas for an evil force trapped in rock

Zaruthustran

The tingling means it’s working!
Quick anecdote: I once ran a game based on the notion of an evil contained within rock. It was a one-shot Halloween adventure at a lonely abbey. The quick summary is that some of its stone was quarried from rock that contained a vampire. So: vampiric abbey.

The not so quick story was that the vampire was challenged long ago by a magic user who had hunted and destroyed it many times, but the vampire kept reforming. So the hunter nailed it with Flesh to Stone, and then Stone to Mud. Since it wasn't reduced to zero HP it never turned to mist/couldn't reform. Ages later, that mud became rock, rock that was part of a sandstone quarry, and that specific stone was used as flooring in a store room at a small keep. That keep eventually became an abbey, and that store room eventually became a slaughterhouse for the abbey's sheep. Eventually, enough blood was spilled on the stone that it awakened some semblance of the vampire entity, and it mindlessly began spreading its presence throughout the castle (causing monks to slip and fall to their deaths, dropping chunks on pilgrims, etc.).

By the time of the adventure, all the unexplained injuries and deaths caused the abbey to develop a reputation for being haunted. It was mostly abandoned. The PCs were trapped there by a storm and learned of possible lycanthrope attacks (the Red Herring). Through investigation and interviews, they discovered the cast of characters: a monk who was essentially the vampiric abbey's Renfield, the suspicious and slowly-being-corrupted head abbot, a family of very vulnerable innocents also trapped by the storm (and possible werewolves pulling the Sheep's Clothing trick to get inside the abbey), and a ghost hunter who came close to discovering the truth (but was murdered after dinner, with the PCs under suspicion as the culprits). Renfield's plan was to somehow get lycanthrope blood into the former slaughterhouse; his notion was that a generous dose of shapeshifter blood would let his master escape. So, the Red Herring had a bit of truth. Eventually they managed to extract the vampire via deduction and a precise application of Stone to Flesh and destroy it. And of course, that just sent the vamp whirling away in mist form to who-knows-where. Hurray for campaign villain!

Anyway. Long story long: you can have a lot of fun with D&D's weird spells and geology. Have you read the description for the 3E spell Imprisonment?

Fun twist: the "big evil" is actually a big good (like a Chosen One sort of thing, or somesuch) who used Imprisonment on self as a way to hide from world (even Wish can't extract) until time is right. Over time, a legend grew up about it an important and powerful figure trapped under the earth, and since it was so mysterious that figure over the years took on an evil reputation.
 
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Quick anecdote: I once ran a game based on the notion of an evil contained within rock. It was a one-shot Halloween adventure at a lonely abbey. The quick summary is that some of its stone was quarried from rock that contained a vampire. So: vampiric abbey.
(snip)
Anyway. Long story long: you can have a lot of fun with D&D's weird spells and geology.

Hah, nice story. That stone was some well-aged cheese! It reminds me of a back story of one the PCs at my table, whose wicked witch stepmother insisted on a cottage made from particular, black stones from a particular river. Turns out they were the disassembled remains of a nefarious dark tower from ancient times. Re-assembling it broke a binding treaty with ancient fey, requiring a sacrifice and a human envoy for 10 years. She'd intended to sacrifice her hated stephchild, but while she slept the child turned the tables on her. Evil step mom taken by the fey. Child spends 10 years in the Feywild and returns to the Prime Material Plane 200 years later as a first-level Warlock, lost to his time, in the service of the dark power that took him as a child.

Have you read the description for the 3E spell Imprisonment?

LOL, no, and I probably wouldn't have by game night if you hadn't pointed it out. Woah! Right there in the PHB! And for Christ's sake, the material component is mithral! I love it! Nokhthwar is encased in mithral! :D

Phew. I love it when stuff like that happens.

Turns out the "godlike" spell I'd imagined is just 9th level. Almost identical otherwise, except that what I'd imagined was lethal. In the PHB, it's like temporal stasis.
 

Quartz

Hero
Twisting on [MENTION=1457]Zaruthustran[/MENTION]'s final idea, the skeletons are not undead but animated objects. The animated objects just happen to be ordinary skeletons. Intelligent PCs might realise that this is a clue that what or who is trapped is not evil.
 

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The last session ended with the party 6 miles underground at the earth's mantle, where skeletons have almost finished excavating the Pit Fiend skeleton and his iron crown.

I still have time to incorporate the Enworld braintrust and improve this hell-forged crown. I'm not happy with the finished product. It must be responsible for raising undead at a distance of miles (skeletons, deathlocks and wights, maybe ghouls) and it must be capable of communicating with the Spectator also at a distance of miles.

It should be too dangerous to be allowed to exist, and will lead the characters eventually to melt it down on its forge, located on the inner rim of the Eighth Circle of Hell. I rolled the Minor/Major properties.

Is this thing a sufficient threat to civilization that it must be destroyed?

Powers
  • Cause fear
  • Animate dead but with a range of 10 miles
  • Create undead at 9th level slot with a range of 10 miles
  • Telepathy
  • Trap the soul on any soul of a creature killed by the owner, range 60'
Minor Beneficial Properties
  • While attuned, casts a 2nd level spell (1-5 on d6, can't cast again till dawn)
  • While attuned, proficient in a skill
Major Beneficial Properties
  • While attuned, casts a 4th level spell (1-5 on d6, can't cast again till dawn)
  • While attuned, can't be blinded, deafened, petrified or stunned
Minor Detrimental Properties
  • While attuned, emit a sour stench noticeable from up to 10 feet away
  • White attuned, other creatures can't take short or long rests while within 300 feet of you
Major Detrimental Properties
  • When you become attuned to the artifact, one of your ability scores is reduced by 2 at random. A greater restoration spell restores the ability to normal.
  • While you are attuned to the artifact, your body rots over the course of four days, after which the rotting stops. You lose your hair by the end of day 2, lips and nose by the end of day 3, and ears by the end of day 4. A regenerate spell restores lost body parts.
 
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