Crying Fields
[size=5]Haunted Battlefield; Temperate Plains[/size]
As the last rays of the sun fade from the red-stained plain, crenellated walls and ruined siege engines emerge from the gloom. Ghostly soldiers charge one another in a swirling melee, crying “A throne for Wroann!” or “Aundair to victory!”
Twenty-seven days of the month, the Crying Fields of southern Aundair are quiet grasslands notable only for the red-tinged flora and the white stone monuments and crypts that dot the landscape. But on nights when the moon is full, the Crying Fields become a twisted mockery of a Last War battlefield, with once-living soldiers battling each other to gain the victory they could not attain in life.
The Crying Fields lie east of Ghalt near the Thrane border. Thrane armies, attempting to avoid long sieges of Tower Valiant or Tower Vigilant, invaded toward Ghalt on five separate occasions during the Last War. Each time, a bloody battle was fought among the farms of southeast Aundair—hundreds of acres of land that now comprise the Crying Fields.
Aundairian farmers long since abandoned the farms, and now the only life in the Crying Fields is the hardy, crimson-tinged grass that sprang up when the fields lay fallow. Even on the sunniest day, visitors to the Crying Fields can hear the clash of swords and cries of anguish, though muffled and distant as if issuing from another world. At night, the sounds of battle grow louder and more distinct.
On the night of the full moon, the battle becomes entirely real, as undead soldiers, Aundairian and Thrane alike, emerge from the night to battle one another—and any among the living who are brave enough or unlucky enough to be in the Crying Fields on that night.
Environment: During the day, a DC 20 Listen check is sufficient to hear the sounds of past battles; on ordinary nights, the DC drops to 15. On the night of the full moon, hearing the battle is automatic—it’s a real battle at that point, not just the distant echo of past clashes.
When the moon is full, characters can see clearly for 60 feet, and they can peer through concealing shadows for another 60 feet; characters with low-light vision can see 120 feet, plus another 120 feet in shadows. The prevailing Aundair weather applies in the Crying Fields on full-moon nights, although the undead soldiers largely ignore weather. The magical transformation that turns the Crying Fields into an undead battlefield suffuses the entire area with a strong aura of necromancy.
Terrain: The Crying Fields are battlefield terrain as described on page 91 of the Dungeon Master’s Guide. The same necromantic transformation that creates undead soldiers also recreates a hodgepodge of walls, trenches, and the detritus of war. But because the historical battles that led to the creation of the Crying Fields were fought decades apart and under different conditions, the arrangement of the fortifications makes no rational sense—it’s just a jumbled mix of five battles overlaid atop one another.
Features: Unless it’s a full moon, the Crying Fields are nearly featureless, with only the occasional graveyard or tomb breaking up acres of grassland. But when the moon is full, the Crying Fields become a mixture of battlefield and nightmare.
Fortifications: Walls, trenches, and berms appear in the night. They function as described on page 91 of the Dungeon Master’s Guide.
Graves: The Crying Fields didn’t undergo monthly transformation into a necromantic battleground until 974 YK, the first anniversary of the Battle of Crying Fields. After major battles in 920, 925, 955, and 968 YK, peace returned to the region long enough for one side or the other to bury their dead and commemorate the valor of the fallen.
Whether it’s day or night, the Crying Fields are home to dozens of graveyards, crypts, and monuments to the fallen. Graveyards have gravestones every 10 feet. Standing in a square with a gravestone gives you a +2 bonus to Armor Class and a +1 bonus on Reflex saves (these bonuses don’t stack with cover bonuses from other sources). The presence of a gravestone doesn’t otherwise affect a creature’s fighting space.
Crypts and monuments are generally windowless 10- or 20-foot-square stone buildings, sometimes with a basement level. Monuments have open doorways so visitors can see the statuary and inscriptions, but crypts are kept locked (with a DC 20 or 30 lock). Some 50% of crypts have a CR 7 to CR 10 trap to keep grave robbers out; those that don’t have traps were looted decades ago. The undead soldiers that fight on the Crying Fields emerge from the night itself, not from specific crypts. But the undead fight tenaciously to seize and hold graves belonging to their side.
Funeral Pyres: The practice of a funeral pyre for dead war heroes isn’t widespread among the Five Nations, so the prevalence of funeral pyres in the Crying Fields on full-moon nights is puzzling. Yet dozens of funeral pyres burn across the Crying Fields, each with a dead Aundairian or Thrane hero from one of the five major battles. The pyres burn throughout the night, casting bright illumination for 200 feet in every direction. They also have treasure (described below) that makes them a target for treasure hunters willing to risk the wrath of the undead.
Encounters: On a full moon, most Crying Fields encounters will be with undead soldiers, which run the gamut from bloodthirsty vampires to implacable wraiths. But some living creatures venture into the Crying Fields in search of necromantic knowledge or the treasures of the funeral pyres. The half-fiend cleric and the retriever on the random encounter table below are examples, but you can create your own rival pyre-robbers as well.
Both the Aundairian undead and the Thrane undead hate the living and will attack any PCs they see. But after 2d4 rounds have passed in a given battle between the PCs and a group of undead, roll percentile dice. There’s a 50% chance that more combatants (determined randomly) will see the skirmish and join the fray. If they do, there’s a 50% chance that the new undead represent the other nation and will attack their undead enemies before turning on the PCs.
For example, if the PCs are fighting bodaks wearing tattered Thrane uniforms, there’s a 50% chance after 2d4 rounds that someone else on the battlefield will notice the fight and join it. If the DM rolls six vampire fighters, there’s a 50% chance that they were Aundairian soldiers once and will attack the bodaks rather than the PCs.
Due to the ongoing battle, encounters take place frequently within the Crying Fields: make a random encounter roll (12% chance for an encounter) every 10 minutes.
CRYING FIELDS ENCOUNTERS
dDevelopment: The undead, the funeral pyres, and the battlements all disappear when the first rays of the sun strike the Crying Fields. Any living creatures find themselves once more on a largely empty plain of red-tinged grass.
Treasure: Each funeral pyre has a rich array of gifts for the afterlife—a double standard treasure for a CR 12 encounter. Reroll any results that give you flammable treasure, such as scrolls or tomes.
Adaptation: The Crying Fields present a high risk for high reward location full of undead horrors and big piles of treasure. You can adapt them for lower-level play by simply choosing weaker undead and smaller treasures. If you do so, consider why the Crying Fields aren’t inundated with low-level treasure hunters every month when the moon is full. Few on Khorvaire can survive a night among dread wraiths, vampires, and charnel hounds, but many could manage a treasure grab against skeletons and zombies.
Crying Fields Lore: Characters with Knowledge (local) can research the Crying Fields to learn more about the place.
DC 10: The Crying Fields are a place in southern Aundair near Thrane where a number of battles were fought during the Last War.
DC 15: No one goes there anymore except to honor the dead soldiers buried there. It’s said you can still hear the sounds of battles if you stand in the Crying Fields and listen.
DC 20: Every month when the moon is full, those who died on the Crying Fields are returned to life as undead horrors, and they battle each other until sunrise.
DC 30: The undead hate the living, but even more they hate undead who wear the uniforms of their enemies in life. They venerate fallen heroes with funeral pyres, many of which have rich treasures atop them.
A DC 15 Knowledge (history) check is sufficient to know details of the five battles that took place on what is now the Crying Fields: the strategic circumstances, the units involved, and individual acts of heroism great enough to become folklore.
Location: Aundair
Location under