Tomb of Blen

The builder’s excavations have accidentally uncovered the entranceway to an ancient Flan tomb that was built to house a great champion who fell defending the land against Suel invaders. The traps and guardians of the tomb are still active, as the tomb has not been disturbed since it was sealed. It is these that slew the original Dynasty adventurers.

Architecture

Tomb Entrance

This is the entrance to the tomb proper. Ahead of you a massive capstone partially blocks the passageway. Small amounts of earth and rocks have been dislodged from the surrounding walls by the movement of the stone and lie scattered about in front of what appears to be a doorway of ancient design. Unfamiliar sigils are carved into both sides of the “door”. Carved into the rock above the portal appears to be a crude representation of the sun. The stone, however, blocks any sight of what may lie beyond. The gap between the stone and the “doorframe” on the right-hand side is about 2 feet wide. The stone itself is not carved and quite smooth. It is quite massive and immovable. The sigils seem to have been defaced in the same fashion as some of the murals in the entrance corridor.

First Antechamber

This chamber is accessed from the Tomb Entrance. This is the first area where PCs will encounter evidence of earlier expeditions. The chamber is wider than the passageway that you have just traversed. It seems to be about 20 feet wide and 30 feet long. Pillars that progress down the room in two rows hold up the roof, which is about 15-foot high.

The Chapel of Beory

This area is reached from the First Antechamber above. It was constructed to be a small chapel dedicated to the worship of Beory, The Oerth Mother. At the foot of a short flight of stairs the area appears to open out into a small chamber. Here the walls are hewn from the living rock and little if no attempt appears to have been made to work them like the rooms encountered above. The room itself is small, barely 15-foot square. At the far end of the chamber appears to stand a small rough-hewn altar of sorts.

The Second Corridor

This corridor leads directly out of the First Antechamber. It leads from there to a second antechamber. Beyond you, another corridor stretches into the darkness. It appears to be roughly 10 feet wide, but it is substantially lower than the previous chamber being only about 7 feet high. This corridor houses a portcullis trap designed to stop invaders fleeing the tomb if they should reach this deep into the complex.

Second Antechamber

This chamber is accessible from the Second Corridor. Halfway along the right-hand wall of the Second Antechamber is a corridor that leads toward a stoutly made wooden door, warped with age and moisture. Once again the corridor you have been following seems to open out into a larger chamber. It is about 20 feet wide and slightly higher than the corridor you are in. The ceiling is perhaps 3 or 4 feet above your heads at the entrance and is slightly domed towards the center.
As you step into the room more of it becomes apparent to you. There seem to be alcoves set into the left-hand wall starting about 5 feet distant from you and thereafter occurring every 5 feet out to the limit of your vision. There are two exits from this room. One leads deeper into the tomb complex while the other allows access to a mass burial chamber, in which the fallen followers of the tomb's main occupant.

Trapped Corridor

The main encounter in this corridor is the activated trap located roughly halfway down its length. Ahead of you, the corridor extends into the darkness. It is lower than before, and narrower than the others before it.

Doors to the Hall of the Dead

This area is accessible via the Trapped Corridor or through the sewers where erosion and flood action have opened a passageway into the tomb. The area in front of the doors (and indeed the rest of the corridor) is untapped. The doors are however swollen with moisture and are jammed in place. Ahead you stand a pair of obviously ancient wooden doors. Closer examination reveals that the doors are very snugly fit into the surrounding wall and look quite difficult to open. The placement of the hinges reveals that they will open inwards when enough pressure is applied. On a successful Spot check (DC 15) relate to the PCs that the doors appear swollen into place and that a slightly nauseous smell emanates from behind the doors. A successful attempt to force the doors (DC 22) will allow further progress. Once the doors have been open proceed to the Halls of the Dead below.

Hall of the Dead

Once the Doors to the Hall of the Dead have been opened the PCs will be able to access this area. Ahead of you stretching into the darkness are 3 rows of stone biers. Upon each rests an (apparently) unanimated skeletal warrior. The dust of centuries is upon this place. It lies thick upon the floor and occupants. Here and there crisscrossing the floor are many small animal tracks, although no animals are currently visible The stench of feces and rubbish hangs in the air here although the source of this is not immediately discernible.

The Main Tomb

The PCs can reach this portion of the tomb from the Second Antechamber. Ahead of your stands a pair of double doors. But 8 feet high these doors are far more ornate than any encountered previously. The left-hand door appears to have been slightly opened towards you. From behind the door what appears to be torchlight wells.

• The pillar has had two great chunks of rock knocked off it, roughly where a humans stomach would be.
• The gravel area is churned up as if a great combat took place here.
• Both of the humans are definitely dead. One appears to have been a priest. The other was a fighter.
• There is blood on the stone floor beyond the gravel area. It appears to lead behind the chariot.
• The gravel is quite compacted and is only 2 feet deep

The Inner Sanctum

This area is located within the Main Tomb and is accessible after the earth elemental in 10a. has been dealt with. Two horses stand rigid and erect in death in front of a wide chariot obviously designed for war. All now look extremely fragile and old. The dust of ages lies deeply here. The finery that once adorned the horses barding has long since perished and only scraps now survive. Besides the chariot, the mummified body of a warrior lies on a plain stone bier, raised about 2 feet off the floor. He lies with his hands clasped over his spear and he appears to have been mummified. He was once clad in leather armor but his has now fallen apart under the weight of the centuries through which he has lain here. Around the bier, no doubt laid out in some significant fashion lie many vases, jars, and pots containing who knows what.
Sundry clay jars and pots used to hold food, drink and other things the deceased would need in the afterlife. Needless to say, the food has since rotted away, the wine evaporated and the other goods degraded in a like fashion. The chariot is in a very poor condition, as are the horses “pulling” it. All are liable to crumble if any attempt to move them is made. The chariot and the horses’ leather accouterments were obviously once well made and quite ostentatious. Now they are a shadow of their former glory and worth nothing as it is impossible to remove them intact. (The chariot was brought into the tomb piece by piece and rebuilt in place to give the hero a way to reach the afterlife).

Type

Tomb

Parent Location

Scant

Characters in Location

• Alesco Madi
• Korvaras Van
• Turo

Related Plots

• Dungeon Fodder