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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Voadam" data-source="post: 7904055" data-attributes="member: 2209">Baldur's Gate Descent Into Avernus5eSwarm of Skeletal Rats: ?Undead Priest, Gideon Lightward: Gideon Lightward was a priest of Lathander who served Elturel and his deity proudly. Zariel saw that his fervor could be an asset to her, so she sent devils to corrupt him in the months leading up to the fall of Elturel. The devils posed as angels, offering Gideon increased power if he would dedicate himself to fighting the ever-present threat of demons.Gideon slowly gave up his sanity and free will to the devils, leaving him corrupted by Zariel and fully serving her in the months leading up to Elturel's fall. He died during the destruction wrought as the city was drawn to Avernus, but the priest rose as an undead creature. Dryad Spirit: In a bygone age, the night hag Red Ruth corrupted a community of dryads by fouling the roots of their trees with mind-bending poison. As the dryads fell to evil, their forest was wrenched from the Feywild into Avernus. Those dryads who resisted the poison died trying to merge back into their trees. The rest crumbled to ash and became restless, tortured spirits akin to banshees. Undead Tree: ?Olanthius, Death Knight: Harurnan followed his master into damnation willingly and was transformed into a narzugon devil, while Olanthius, who took his own life rather than bow before Asmodeus, was brought back to serve as a death knight under Zariel's burning gaze.One of Zariel's generals, Olanthius, killed himself rather than embrace tyranny. Zariel raised him as a death knight to ensure his loyalty. Olanthius took his life rather than face damnation, but he was transformed into an undead monster by Zariel to serve her forevermore. Barnabas, Flameskull: Barnabas, once a powerful wizard, had his crypt defiled by an evil nemesis who stole his skull and turned it into a flameskull. General Yael, Ghost: I gave up my magic and memories, and Yael gave her life to construct this place to protect the sword.Elf Spirit: ?Ghost, Zariel's Knight: The knights' souls are cursed to remain here. They yearn for the afterlife, but the oath they swore to Zariel binds them to her service. Ghost, Szarr: Long ago, the graveyard was an empty estate owned by the mercantile Szarr family, with only a few family crypts near the cliffs. When a business rival murdered the entire family in their beds, no one was eager to move into their former manor, and the city decided to turn the estate into a single massive graveyard that acts as the primary repository for the city's dead. The graveyard itself is a maze of crypts and monuments, its organization nearly impossible for outsiders to discern as the multi-chamber ossuaries of rich merchants and pirate lords loom over the simple plaques and rotting wooden holy symbols of the poor. Natural cavern systems have been expanded and shored up to create extensive crypts, yet over generations maps have been lost or poorly updated, and it's not uncommon for a gravedigger to find themselves striking the wood of a coffin where no coffin should be, or tumbling through into a forgotten stretch of tunnel. Rampant grave robbery by brigands and necromancy-obsessed followers of Myrkul only increases the chaos, as bodies get exhumed and reburied wherever it's convenient. Most significantly, a major landslide decades ago dropped a large portion of the cemetery's cliff into the river below, causing the remaining bone-houses and markers to shift and lean, while also exposing numerous crypts and tomb-tunnels to the air, prompting a fresh rush of grave robbing. Though Baldurians rarely bury their dead with valuables anymore. and many of the easier pickings have been taken, it's common wisdom that some of the greatest treasures of past centuries still lie entombed with their heroes, their headstones wiped anonymously clean by wind and rain. Watching over all of this is the powerful Gravemakers crew. Far more than simply caretakers and laborers, the Gravemakers guard the dead-and Tumbledown-from threats. With so much death concentrated in one spot, undead are a constant problem. Skeletons and revenants regularly claw spontaneously out of their graves, while ghouls and ghasts burrow into crypts and catacombs, drawn by the scent of decaying flesh. Wights hide in their tombs by day, while ghosts and wraiths terrorize unsuspecting mortals. Putting down such threats before they can prey on citizens is the Gravemakers' primary job, and though rightfully proud of their prowess, their leader Leone Wen, a lawful good female human knight and servant of Torm, is always looking for fresh recruits or contractors to join them in their crusade. The crew operates out of the half-burned old Szarr Mansion in the cemetery's center, its moldering halls reputedly still infested by the ghosts of the murdered Szarrs-though stories remain split as to whether the ghosts prey on the Gravemakers or aid them in their duty.Jander Sunstar, Vampire: This elf warrior, cursed to an eternity of undeath, tried to redeem his corrupted soul by swearing to hunt down his own kind. Undead: Chronically understaffed, especially in those wards catering to poor Outer City residents, the hospital has constant security problems, from angry patients to spontaneously arising undead, unethical or experimental treatments by priests of non-good faiths, or excessive withdrawals from the stores of painkilling narcotics. Crawling Claw: ?Ghoul: These former citizens of the city died when Elturel was drawn into Avernus. Their souls were corrupted by the terrible power of the plane, leaving them in these undead forms. Undead Pit.Ghast: Undead Pit.Mummy: Zariel's warlocks helped build the Crypt of the Hell-riders to gain infernal power in their mortal world. When they died, their cursed bodies were dragged into Avernus to guard the tomb for eternity.Revenant: Long ago, the graveyard was an empty estate owned by the mercantile Szarr family, with only a few family crypts near the cliffs. When a business rival murdered the entire family in their beds, no one was eager to move into their former manor, and the city decided to turn the estate into a single massive graveyard that acts as the primary repository for the city's dead. The graveyard itself is a maze of crypts and monuments, its organization nearly impossible for outsiders to discern as the multi-chamber ossuaries of rich merchants and pirate lords loom over the simple plaques and rotting wooden holy symbols of the poor. Natural cavern systems have been expanded and shored up to create extensive crypts, yet over generations maps have been lost or poorly updated, and it's not uncommon for a gravedigger to find themselves striking the wood of a coffin where no coffin should be, or tumbling through into a forgotten stretch of tunnel. Rampant grave robbery by brigands and necromancy-obsessed followers of Myrkul only increases the chaos, as bodies get exhumed and reburied wherever it's convenient. Most significantly, a major landslide decades ago dropped a large portion of the cemetery's cliff into the river below, causing the remaining bone-houses and markers to shift and lean, while also exposing numerous crypts and tomb-tunnels to the air, prompting a fresh rush of grave robbing. Though Baldurians rarely bury their dead with valuables anymore. and many of the easier pickings have been taken, it's common wisdom that some of the greatest treasures of past centuries still lie entombed with their heroes, their headstones wiped anonymously clean by wind and rain. Watching over all of this is the powerful Gravemakers crew. Far more than simply caretakers and laborers, the Gravemakers guard the dead-and Tumbledown-from threats. With so much death concentrated in one spot, undead are a constant problem. Skeletons and revenants regularly claw spontaneously out of their graves, while ghouls and ghasts burrow into crypts and catacombs, drawn by the scent of decaying flesh. Shadow: Undead Pit.Skeleton: If one or more of the black candles on the altar are lit, they shed a green light that reveals black writing on the walls. The writing, which is not visible otherwise, says in Common, "RISE AND BE COUNTED!" If these words are spoken aloud within 5 feet of the altar, the words vanish as bones hidden under the debris at the north end of the room rise up and knit together, forming three animated human skeletons. The skeletons are evil undead, but they obey the commands of whoever spoke the words that raised them, serving that individual until they're destroyed or their master is killed. A squad of Baphomet's minotaurs attempted to overrun the chapel, but Gideon and his servants slew them. Gideon then turned them into four minotaur skeletons that attack as soon as any character enters this area. Long ago, the graveyard was an empty estate owned by the mercantile Szarr family, with only a few family crypts near the cliffs. When a business rival murdered the entire family in their beds, no one was eager to move into their former manor, and the city decided to turn the estate into a single massive graveyard that acts as the primary repository for the city's dead. The graveyard itself is a maze of crypts and monuments, its organization nearly impossible for outsiders to discern as the multi-chamber ossuaries of rich merchants and pirate lords loom over the simple plaques and rotting wooden holy symbols of the poor. Natural cavern systems have been expanded and shored up to create extensive crypts, yet over generations maps have been lost or poorly updated, and it's not uncommon for a gravedigger to find themselves striking the wood of a coffin where no coffin should be, or tumbling through into a forgotten stretch of tunnel. Rampant grave robbery by brigands and necromancy-obsessed followers of Myrkul only increases the chaos, as bodies get exhumed and reburied wherever it's convenient. Most significantly, a major landslide decades ago dropped a large portion of the cemetery's cliff into the river below, causing the remaining bone-houses and markers to shift and lean, while also exposing numerous crypts and tomb-tunnels to the air, prompting a fresh rush of grave robbing. Though Baldurians rarely bury their dead with valuables anymore. and many of the easier pickings have been taken, it's common wisdom that some of the greatest treasures of past centuries still lie entombed with their heroes, their headstones wiped anonymously clean by wind and rain. Watching over all of this is the powerful Gravemakers crew. Far more than simply caretakers and laborers, the Gravemakers guard the dead-and Tumbledown-from threats. With so much death concentrated in one spot, undead are a constant problem. Skeletons and revenants regularly claw spontaneously out of their graves, while ghouls and ghasts burrow into crypts and catacombs, drawn by the scent of decaying flesh. Undead Pit.Minotaur Skeleton: Slain servants of Baphomet stripped of flesh and animated by Gideon using the power of the Companion. Specter: As Olanthius moves through the catacombs, he compels any ghosts he encounters to fight at his side. Any ghosts that the characters summoned from the urns in the funerary chambers transform into specters under Olanthius's command and join him on his hunt. Undead Pit.Vampire Lord: ?Wight: Undead Pit.Will-o'-Wisp: ?Wraith: Being entombed in Avernus has corrupted the spirits of these knights. Undead Pit.Zombie: Flennis is preparing to make a zombie out of the corpse on the table, but the animate dead spell takes 1 minute to cast, which means she must deal with the characters first. The shambling corpses are six zombies created by Flennis from the remains of the Dead Three cultists' murder victims. Undead Pit.Undead PitThe path around the chapel has been sundered by a deep hole in the ground, filled with a putrid purple mist. The haze filling the hole blocks any sense of how deep it might be, or of what might lie within. Gideon creates his undead servants in this 30-foot-deep pit, which was formed when a piece of the meteor that struck the High Hall splintered off.Necromantic Mist. The mist is formed by necromantic energy emitted from the corrupted Companion. A successful DC 10 Intelligence (Investigation) check made to study the mist reveals that it pulsates in sync with the crackling energy of the corrupted Companion. Any creature that enters the mist for the first time on a turn or starts its turn there takes 5 (1d10) necrotic damage. Climbing the sides of the pit without equipment requires a successful DC 10 Strength (Athletics) check. Whenever Gideon directs his minions to toss a dead body into the pit, an undead creature crawls forth one hour later. Newly created undead patiently wander the cemetery grounds until Gideon gives them orders. One undead creature appears during the time the characters investigate the pit, and more can appear if they leave this area, then return again while Gideon is still at large. Use the Undead Creation table to determine what kind of undead creature is created. UNDEAD CREATION d20 Undead 1-4 Skeleton 5-7 Zombie 8-10 Shadow 11-12 Specter 13-15 Ghoul 16-17 Ghast 18-19 Wight 20 Wraith</blockquote>

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