1. SETTING & STARTING HOOK
Starting Location: The @Hamlet of Hillvale.
Requester: The Sect of Anubis (aspect of Yug) (specifically an official named "Final Breath" @Last Breath).
The Request: The Sect has received omens that an allied sect dedicated to the "Iron God" has been destroyed by divine lightning from a clear sky and that the characters were coming to the Hamlet. @Last Breath will approach them them the minute they come into @Hamlet of Hillvale.
Location of the Tomb: @Tomb of the Iron God (Quest) The Hills of Lug, situated on the border of the Blackwood Forest.
Travel Logistics: Hamlet of Hillvale to Ironroot Bastion: 3 hrs walk of travel. Assuming the players make some effort to gather information about the place they're going to explore and possibly loot, they should automatically learn all the first three rumours (and the fourth, if you're using the Tombs as the seed of a larger dungeon complex). Rumours 5-11 are more difficult to learn. Each character may make a single DC 15 Charisma check to learn one these less-accessible facts/ rumours (determine randomly for each successful check).
The tombs contain Sacred Catacombs, which are deadly to those who enter without the proper reverence and rituals. (True)
The underground halls of the priests were used to embalm and purify corpses before consigning them to the catacombs below. (True)
Do not attack the Guardian in Darkness. (True)
The tombs were built in the uppermost level of a more ancient underground tunnel system. (False, unless you choose to build more levels onto the dungeon.)
The hill-folk have recently seen @Ape-Mannear the ruins. (True)
It is death to bathe in the fountain of the priests. (True, if you've got the wrong alignment.)
Bathing in the fountain of the priests grants protection against the undead. (True, if you've got the right alignment.)
Iron allies await those who carry the three signs. (True)
The Iron God still lives within the Tombs. (True)
Those who stand before the god as nature made them shall receive a boon. (False)
Ironroot Bastion to the Tomb: 2 days of travel (approx. 30km).
2. THE TRAGEDY OF THE IRON GOD It is said The Iron God is a minor deity of the underworld who guards the spirits of the dead. His monks once lived in a monastery above the sacred catacombs.
The Betrayal: A monk named Ardarus led a corrupt faction of the sect. They abandoned their vows of poverty to hoard gold and began experimenting with the forbidden powers of undeath raising an undead army.
The High Priest: Ardarus overthrew the loyal High Priest and locked him in an iron cage to starve to death.
Divine Wrath: It is believed On the night the High Priest died, the Iron God struck. Divine lightning obliterated the surface monastery. The corrupt monks were transformed into "Living Iron Statues"—their bodies turned to solid metal, their minds trapped in a state of eternal, slow-motion horror.
3. KEY DUNGEON MECHANICS
The Living Iron: Most monks are immobile statues. However, their faces move at an imperceptibly slow crawl. Some, like Ardarus, remain mobile and hostile.
Hoods of Reverence: Essential items. To enter the Sacred Catacombs (Level 1 and 2), one must wear these hoods. Without them, characters suffer psychic distress, hallucinations, and eventual death from the "presence" of the god.
The Vision Room (Area 12): A central iron circle. The first character to stand here receives a vision from the Iron God detailing the monks' betrayal. If they accept a Geas to purge the tomb, they receive a +1 Iron Weapon. This is an empty room, the floor covered in a deep layer of dust. Under the dust on the floor there is a pattern of concentric circles, inlaid with iron into the stone floor. The center circle is only about 2ft in diameter, set in the exact middle of the room. The first person to stand in the central circle is suddenly thrown into a trance, floating upward and crossing their legs into a lotus position as they come into direct communication with the Iron God. In their mind's eye, the character "sees" a great cavern where there is a statue of the Iron God and roughly hewn stairs leading downward (this is the cavern in area 33). The statue's head turns and speaks to the character, communicating that he (the Iron God) has chosen to punish his own monks for their avarice and for violating his laws against experimenting with the powers of Undeath. He offers a quest to the character, the task of clearing out the two levels of the underground complex; and he is willing to grant a gift to assist the character with the task. The god will not deign to describe the gift — he is, afterall, a god, and not to be haggled with like a merchant. If the character accepts, they are placed under a geas — as per an 8th level spell with 1 year duration — to clear out the Sacred Catacombs. As a benefit granted by the god to this character, an iron +1 weapon (of whatever sort the character normally uses) forms in their hand, and then the vision ends. Only one character can receive the vision, gift, and geas. Whether or not the character accepts the geas, they gain a certain insight into the Iron God's mind, and know instinctively that only one treasure (a particular cache of silver coins) is forbidden to take — the other riches in the Tomb do not belong here, and are vestiges of a corrupt priesthood – the characters are welcome to remove them.
Fountain of Purification (Area 17): Water that grants a 24-hour protection buff against undead to Good/Neutral characters. It deals massive damage to Evil characters.
4. LEVEL 1: THE MONASTIC HALLS & SACRED CATACOMBS
Area 1 (Entrance): A 10ft wide staircase guarded by an 10ft iron statue. A mummified head on a pike "warns" visitors to leave (this is a Ape-man trick).
Area 11 (The Treasury): Contains the monks' ill-gotten gains. Looting these may trigger wandering monsters. Secret Room Three treasure chests are stacked one on top of the other against the wall of this otherwise empty room. If anyone moves the treasure chests, they will find that the chests conceal a smeared handprint of old, dried blood on the wall behind them. This is a remnant from a thief many years ago, and an example of how even the best housekeepers will sometimes 16 just conceal a mess rather than clean it up. There is nothing special about the print, other than the fact it is particularly and unusually revealing. Anyone making a DC 15 Intelligence (investigation) check will suddenly discern a wealth of detail, a truly Sherlock Holmesian performance of observation and reasoning. The person who created the bloody print was male, left-handed, served in a war but not as a soldier, became a drunkard in later life and descended into a life of thievery. He had an on-and-off relationship with someone, and probably had red hair (the character making the check isn’t certain about the red hair, assigning about a 75% chance to that part). The character will be able to explain all the subtle clues leading to these conclusions, and the rest of the party will no doubt be astonished as will they due to not really knowing how they did it. Treasure Chest #1: The chest is Locked, requiring a DC 10 Dexterity check (thieves tools and proficiency required) to open it. It contains 2,259sp and a roughly-carved piece of obsidian (10gp). Chest #2: Unlocked, this chest contains a beautifully fashioned iron bracelet (30gp), 41gp and 1,181sp. Chest #3: This chest is Locked, needing a DC 10 Dexterity check (thieves tools and proficiency required) to open it. The chest Contains 3,920sp and 56gp. The chests can be smashed open with any blunt weapon, although each of them is worth 5gp undamaged (they weigh 5 pounds each but are quite bulky). Smashing any of them open is noisy enough to cause an immediate check for wandering monsters.
Area 19 (Ardarus’s Room): Home to the traitor Ardarus. He is now a mobile iron statue (@Animated Armour stats) and will defend his stolen riches to the death.
Area 21 (The Prison): Contains the iron cage holding the skeleton of the martyred High Priest. Finding this is the ultimate proof of the monks' crimes.
Area 23 (The Ape-man Lair): A war party of @Ape-Man (no females) scavengers led by Gezra Baas (an @Ape-Man (Shaman) and an @Ape-Man (Alpha). They have occupied the ruins but fear the deeper catacombs.
Area 33 (The Idol of the Iron God): A massive cavern containing the 20ft iron idol. The god's consciousness resides here. Unknowable truth it is not a god at all simply an ancient alien artefact that believes it is one.
Area 34 (Prison of the Eater): A massive stone slab seals away "The @Eater of the Dead (Full strength)," an ancient immortal evil imprisoned by the Iron God a millennium ago.
5. LEVEL 2: THE DEEP CATACOMBS
The Environment: Serpentine, narrow tunnels filled with thousands of burial alcoves. The air is thick with the dust of ages.
Area 36 (The Hall of Heroes): Features statues of great warriors. If the tomb is desecrated, these statues may animate.
Area 52 (The Flipping Floor): A deadly trap. A section of the floor flips when weight is applied, dropping characters 50 feet into a pit of soft dirt.
Area 53 (The Giant Ants): The pit below Area 52 is infested with 4 @Giant Ant that feed on anything that falls through the floor.
Area 57 (The Crocodile Guardian): A @Crocodile Zombie guards the final reaches of the burial passages.
6. GM NARRATIVE GUIDELINES
Tone: "Weird Science-Fantasy." Use descriptions of silver-masked priests, pictorial script, and the strange lighting effects of the moons/planets (Saturn/Helios/Selene/Phobos).
Success Condition: The quest is "solved" when the party discovers the truth of the corruption (either via the High Priest’s remains or the Vision Room) and reports back to Final Breath.
The Iron God's Presence: The god is not "evil," but he is cold, metallic, and unforgiving. He views the PCs as potential tools to clean his house. He is not a God but an ancient alien intelligent artefact gone mildly insane thinking it is a beneficial god.
Environmental Cues: Describe the smell of ozone (from the lightning), the sound of grinding metal (moving statues), and the heavy silence of the deep burials.