Valley of the Ancients

A ravine complex scoured out of the sandstone holds the tomb complex known as the Valley of the Ancients. Located near the town of Ka-Tepi, it dates back to the era of the Raurin Empire.
In 997 Post-Sundering, it became the encampment of a terrifying warband of gnoll raiders. Led by a Fang of Yeenoghu and a powerful gnoll deathmage, the gnolls struck passing caravans and nearby settlements, leaving few survivors. Only scattered tales of fiends and horrifying magic accompanied their passing. The region was saved from a tide of gnolls when a band of heroic adventurers ventured into the ravines and cleansed them of the fiendish taint.

Architecture

The Valley of the Ancients was carved out of natural ravines filling a low range of sandstone hills thrusting up out of the desert sands. Entrance passageways were hewn into the sides of the ravines, and then the tombs themselves were chiselled out of the solid rock. 
The faded grandeur of the tomb complex is still visible in the stone, largely protected from the elements by the high walls and curving rock of the ravines. The entrance to the ravines is lined with pillars which once supported the roof of an open-air funerary temple, with statues of the gods lining the rock walls. Entering the ravine proper, visitors are greeted by a three-metre tall statue of Anubis, Shepherd and Judge of the Dead, stepping out of the rock bearing his crook and flail in one hand, the other outstretched to welcome the viewer to his domain.
Each entrance is surrounded by a carved stone door-lintel, naming the occupant and their role in life, and the doorway filled with a solid stone door cemented into place. Within, each tomb varied in its number of occupants: lower-ranking or less wealthy individuals who had still been deemed worthy of a resting place within the valley may only have a single chamber with their personal grave goods, while nobles or high officials may have commissioned multi-roomed tombs for themselves, their families, and/or favoured retainers, together with their household goods.
Many of the tombs are lit with ornately carved stone torches bearing continual flame spells, while some of the lesser tombs may only have hastily-shaped stone globes to bear the enchantment. The witchlights are dim and flickering, with several almost extinguished as a result of damage caused by tomb robbers and the recent rampaging gnolls.

History

Dates still visible on the tombs indicate they were commissioned over two thousand years ago, a millennium before the fall of the Raurin Empire. Created during the reign of a pharaoh of the era, the Valley was intended as a secure resting place for those deemed worthy of joining the pharaoh's afterlife by being laid to rest around him. The pharaoh's tomb was built first, then all the rest followed it, spiralling out around it.
The tombs lasted relatively undisturbed for millennia, a combination of their sturdy construction and local superstition protecting them from tomb robbers. They were only forced open and plundered once a large group of gnoll raiders set up camp in the outer sections of the western ravines. Although the area was soon cleansed by adventurers, there is no way to know whether the vengeful souls of the residents will be called back from the afterlife to wreak havoc on those who allowed their rest to be disturbed...

by Heroic Maps & Nathan Turner

Founding Date

1623 PS (Pre Sundering)

Type

Tomb