The Tomb of Horrors. A name most often found in whispers on the lips of adventurers sharing rumors late at night in taverns across the lands, and a place rarely spoken of outside of grim legends of lost heroes, old legends, and the nightmarish stories about its creator, the cruel lich Acererak. The most dreadful part of this mythical status, though is that it is very, very real. Its hill hides nestled at the heart of a great swamp at once withered and overgrown, with trees hiding it from most outside view, and yet with open space around it. The Tomb is itself a dark king at the heart of a twisted castle of mud and nature.
In recent decades it has become somewhat easier to find. A road has long run through the swamp, a half mile or so from that cursed place, but now a discreet, winding path leads off it into the swamp and to a small, squat, miserable little town built in front of the Tomb. It serves as a home to necromancers and cultists, worshipers who loathe life as Acererak did and hope to ascend to undeath. They claim that sometimes the Tomb calls or even reaches out for sacrifices. Greedy adventurers looking to plunder the treasures the lich has gathered over his life and unlife. Bold heroes looking to rid the cosmos of a great evil and cement their legend for all time. The desperate, who have heard the tales that something they need can be found within the Tomb, if just by probability and the Lich's vast collection. The lost, who have found themselves in this place beyond all probability and sense that this may be their only way to escape.
People from countless places, walks of life, and even worlds have been forced to explore the Tomb for one reason or another. None have ever returned, but still the greedy, foolishly brave, and desperate try.
Now, it is your turn. You have come to the top of that ridge, away from the main road, and are overlooking the town below...
The tomb is a squat, miserable hill topped with withered vegetation, mostly scrubby bushes and brown grass. Inset in its top are stones which form a grinning, death's-head skull. The top half of a similar shape forms the north wall of the hill, the side facing the road. The openings of the eyes and nasal cavity lead into the depths of the place, with the eye entrances being slightly elevated and the nose being lower than the ground around it. The hill is around 500ft across, and rises about 40ft out of the swamp. The entrances are all roughly 20ft high and across.
A branching road paved in smoothed cobblestones leads toward the three entrances, and is a continuation of the main road through the town. The town itself, if it can be called that, is a loose semicircle of buildings in front of the Tomb, large enough to house around two hundred people and a larger number of lesser undead such as zombies and skeletons. The buildings are mostly small wooden structures, not much larger than they need to be to perform their functions, and all look slightly dilapidated. Nearest to the Tomb is a large graveyard mostly made up of mass graves and otherwise featuring simple headstones and markers. This fills the space between the paths and off to the sides to help avoid obstructing the view of the Tomb from the ridge above. There is a simple stone wall surrounding the town and meeting the base of the hill, and a single gate decorated in macabre fashion provides access to the settlement, with spikes, bones, and tattered and soiled banners bearing the image of a howling, green devil face.
In recent decades it has become somewhat easier to find. A road has long run through the swamp, a half mile or so from that cursed place, but now a discreet, winding path leads off it into the swamp and to a small, squat, miserable little town built in front of the Tomb. It serves as a home to necromancers and cultists, worshipers who loathe life as Acererak did and hope to ascend to undeath. They claim that sometimes the Tomb calls or even reaches out for sacrifices. Greedy adventurers looking to plunder the treasures the lich has gathered over his life and unlife. Bold heroes looking to rid the cosmos of a great evil and cement their legend for all time. The desperate, who have heard the tales that something they need can be found within the Tomb, if just by probability and the Lich's vast collection. The lost, who have found themselves in this place beyond all probability and sense that this may be their only way to escape.
People from countless places, walks of life, and even worlds have been forced to explore the Tomb for one reason or another. None have ever returned, but still the greedy, foolishly brave, and desperate try.
Now, it is your turn. You have come to the top of that ridge, away from the main road, and are overlooking the town below...
The tomb is a squat, miserable hill topped with withered vegetation, mostly scrubby bushes and brown grass. Inset in its top are stones which form a grinning, death's-head skull. The top half of a similar shape forms the north wall of the hill, the side facing the road. The openings of the eyes and nasal cavity lead into the depths of the place, with the eye entrances being slightly elevated and the nose being lower than the ground around it. The hill is around 500ft across, and rises about 40ft out of the swamp. The entrances are all roughly 20ft high and across.
A branching road paved in smoothed cobblestones leads toward the three entrances, and is a continuation of the main road through the town. The town itself, if it can be called that, is a loose semicircle of buildings in front of the Tomb, large enough to house around two hundred people and a larger number of lesser undead such as zombies and skeletons. The buildings are mostly small wooden structures, not much larger than they need to be to perform their functions, and all look slightly dilapidated. Nearest to the Tomb is a large graveyard mostly made up of mass graves and otherwise featuring simple headstones and markers. This fills the space between the paths and off to the sides to help avoid obstructing the view of the Tomb from the ridge above. There is a simple stone wall surrounding the town and meeting the base of the hill, and a single gate decorated in macabre fashion provides access to the settlement, with spikes, bones, and tattered and soiled banners bearing the image of a howling, green devil face.
Recap:
Antadurunu and his faithful undead hound Enlil were the first of the current crop of would-be heroes to arrive in this place, the undead warrior restraining his loathing for the necromancers and their ilk living here long enough to listen to them. These necromancers and cultists claim that they welcome those who would dare hunt their dark lord, as they believe him invincible. Fine by Ant, who seeks to rid the world of this most vile of liches. In fact, these cultists encourage adventurers to throw their lives away in vain pursuit of whatever prize they would seek. To the death knight's grudging acceptance, they provided him with the bandages they use to preserve their undead minions, bandages which both help to embalm the corpses and to let them heal as a living creature would and to benefit from spells such as Restoration. He also made use of the tools in the smith's shop to hone his weapons and patch up equipment when offered.
Lisa arrived next and self consciously moved to the crossroads, trying to avoid conversation as her dreadful mission turns over and over in her mind. This... does not last too long.
Jiyarin has found himself on a world more primitive than his own but with phenomena he cannot hope to explain after... something, something inexplicable, tore his crew's starship from its path across the void. He has found himself approaching this town through rumors and twisted fortune, a grim part of him knowing that this Tomb, one way or another, will be his only way off of this planet...
Currently, Ant and Lisa are in town and Jiyarin has just arrived at the overlooking ridge...
Antadurunu and his faithful undead hound Enlil were the first of the current crop of would-be heroes to arrive in this place, the undead warrior restraining his loathing for the necromancers and their ilk living here long enough to listen to them. These necromancers and cultists claim that they welcome those who would dare hunt their dark lord, as they believe him invincible. Fine by Ant, who seeks to rid the world of this most vile of liches. In fact, these cultists encourage adventurers to throw their lives away in vain pursuit of whatever prize they would seek. To the death knight's grudging acceptance, they provided him with the bandages they use to preserve their undead minions, bandages which both help to embalm the corpses and to let them heal as a living creature would and to benefit from spells such as Restoration. He also made use of the tools in the smith's shop to hone his weapons and patch up equipment when offered.
Lisa arrived next and self consciously moved to the crossroads, trying to avoid conversation as her dreadful mission turns over and over in her mind. This... does not last too long.
Jiyarin has found himself on a world more primitive than his own but with phenomena he cannot hope to explain after... something, something inexplicable, tore his crew's starship from its path across the void. He has found himself approaching this town through rumors and twisted fortune, a grim part of him knowing that this Tomb, one way or another, will be his only way off of this planet...
Currently, Ant and Lisa are in town and Jiyarin has just arrived at the overlooking ridge...
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