The Dolmen Tomb – Area 9: Slaves' Crypt

Dozens of ancient skeletons are laid out on straw mats lining the dusty floor.

The Dolmen Tomb – Area 8: Shaman's Crypt

 

The corridor from area 7 dead-ends in a crudely-rendered wall carving of a male figure with a coyote’s head addressing six coyotes. The figure wears a tight tunic and holds a staff capped with an orb of fire; with his other hand he points to the orb with his index finger hooked down.

The Dolmen Tomb – Area 7: Antechamber

More than a dozen ancient skeletons are laid out on straw mats lining the dusty floor. A 2-ft. sq. niche is set at chest height in the north corner of the west wall.

The Dolmen Tomb – Area 6: Huntress' Crypt

 

Dozens of ancient skeletons are laid out on straw mats lining the dusty floor. A crudely-carved stone sarcophagus rests before the angled north walls. The lid of the sarcophagus is sealed with lead and carved with ancient glyphs that tell the tale of Saba—Wife of Chief Mesharsu of the Coyote Clan; Huntress of the Great Plain.

The Dolmen Tomb – Area 5: General's Crypt

 

Dozens of ancient skeletons are laid out on straw mats lining the dusty floor. A carved stone sarcophagus rests before the angled north walls. The lid of the sarcophagus is sealed with lead and carved with ancient glyphs that tell the tale of Ikakit—General of the Coyote Clan; Hero of the People.

The Dolmen Tomb – Area 4: Attendant's Crypt

The chamber is lit by torches as (4) tomb robbers work to pry open the lid of a stone sarcophagus. A sealed clay jar and a bronze coffer stand against the north wall. The tomb robbers crack the seal open just as the party arrives, releasing stale vapors when the lid shunts slightly to the side.

The Dolmen Tomb – Area 3: Antechamber

 

Many boot prints on the dusty floor lead into and out of this chamber from both the east and north exits (areas 1 and 4). Shattered bones litter the area around the east entrance. A dozen straw mats cover the floor, and a man’s corpse is laid out on one mat in the southwest corner, next to a pile of equipment. The muffled sounds of hammering and faint voices can be heard in the direction of area 4, and dim light flickers on the walls of the north passage.

The Dolmen Tomb – Area 2: Sacred Basin

Many boot prints on the dusty floor lead in and out of both entrances to this chamber, which is empty save for a stone basin carved into the east wall. The basin and the stone wall surrounding it are carved with crudely-rendered versions of local flora and fauna. The muffled sounds of hammering and faint voices can be heard in the direction of area 3.

The Dolmen Tomb – Area 1: Entrance Chamber

NOTE: In my campaign, the tomb robbers recently discovered the dolmen and began plundering the tomb beneath. Their desecration of this site has caused the dead within to stir. If the dungeon is being run as “undisturbed,” then a few of the initial descriptions can be adjusted accordingly.

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Background
The undead in this tomb are the restless spirits of an ancient nomadic people from the Horse Plains to the west of the Badlands. They are not evil (although they can be turned like normal undead), but are instead animated by a burning desire for vengeance on the evil cultists who betrayed them long ago and caused their deaths (similar to the animus that drives a revenant).

Each of the major undead creatures in the crypts guards a sacred clan relic, with the intent of passing each item along to proven heroes who can then use them as instruments of their vengeance. This will not be immediately apparent to the party until they encounter either Ninu (area 14) or Chief Mesharsu (area 20), but killing the undead and releasing their spirits, and then taking possession of these relics is the entire point of this dungeon.

The Dead Pines – The Dolmen Tomb

After plundering several more cairns and a warrior's barrow mound, the party makes their way toward the center of The Dead Pines, where they discover a thicket of scrub and pine trees—a dense ring of foliage approximately 300 ft. in diam. and 75 ft. thick.

• Rangers, druids, and elves can make a DC 12 Perception check to sense an ancient magical influence (druidic/nature) that permeates the thicket.

• Except for rangers and druids, the dense thicket reduces movement by half again, on top of the normal difficult terrain penalty (one-quarter Speed).

• The foliage provides half-cover (+2 AC) to any target of a ranged attack greater than 10 ft. away, and three-quarters-cover (+5 AC) to any target greater than 20 ft. away. The foliage totally obscures line-of-sight at more than 30 ft. away.

• Within the thicket, melee attack rolls by slashing or bludgeoning weapons have disadvantage due to blocking (rangers and druids can make a DC 12 WIS save at the start of their turn to overcome this effect until the start of their next turn).

The Dead Pines – Sample Barrow Mound

On their second foray into The Dead Pines, the party discovered an old barrow mound. I rolled up several of these graves in advance, using the tables I adapted from Greg Gillespie's Barrowmaze adventure. Of those, I picked this one first simply because it was the coolest, most elaborate one I rolled up with lots of stuff in it. It also turned out to be the only barrow the party ended up exploring before they found the central Dolmen Tomb dungeon. I present it here as a good example of how the tables worked out.

Keep on the Badlands – The Dead Pines

I seeded my original map for the campaign sandbox with a series of "Lurid Lairs" (a la Judges Guild's Wilderlands of High Fantasy)—one-or two-sentence descriptions of a potential encounter/adventure area that could be ad-libbed easily should the players wander into it. One of these was the following site, nestled in a box canyon well within walking distance of the keep:

Dozens of rock cairns spawn the ancient skeletons of slain warriors that rise from the dead to attack. One has a +1 weapon.

On one of the party's initial forays into the Badlands, I rolled some encounter checks for their trek and came up with two results: Discovery > Trail and Monster > Undead > 1d3+1 Skeletons. The first encounter occurred just a few miles down the southern canyon, so it seemed a perfect opportunity to cram the two encounters together and introduce the lurid lair.