Map Monday: Barrow of the Ideskoror Kings

Hundreds of miles to the east of Coldtreath, across the Nyndael Mountains, lies the ancient realm of Ideskoror. This ancient realm was governed over by the Ideskoror family from the throne at Ideskoror Castle. The castle itself is long gone; The Birchtrick Forest has retaken the castle grounds. The castle stones are long turned to gravel; not even a foundation remains to mark its location at the base of the Tackrind Cliffs. All that still exists to prove that the Ideskoror family ever lived is their burial mound: the Barrow of the Ideskoror Kings.
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1. Entry: A massive stone block nearly ten feet wide stands here. The door is locked by a spell and warded against entry. (DM's choice.)


2. Landing: There is a torch on either wall of the landing. If the door is opened with the proper counterspells, the torches magically light upon the entry of characters through the doorway. If the door is not opened correctly, the torches do not light; indeed, they will not light for the characters regardless of the means used to attempt to light them. Even magical light spells will not adhere to the torches.


3. Main Crypt: The main crypt is entered via a ten'-long rough-hewn and well-worn staircase from the landing. The characters must move at one-half speed down the stairs or make a Balance check (DC 13), otherwise they will slip and fall down the remaining stairs, incurring 1 hp of damage. In this room rest the remains of the last five Ideskoror Kings in massive stone sarcophagi. The one closest to the staircase stands empty. Roll for random treasure; 20% chance each of these sarcophagi contain some form of minor treasure.
   
   The door to "4" is locked. (DC 25)


4. Four more royal sarcophagi are here, each in its own alcove. Each sarcophagi contains a human skeleton, which will animate and fight to the death should the lid of the sarcophagi be broken or opened. Each skeleton wields a longsword.
   
   The door to "5" is locked. (DC 30)


5. Guardian's Tomb: Within this massive stone sarcophagus rests the Guardian of the Kings. The Guardian was the First Knight to King Thaet, the First of the Ideskoror Kings. He was bound by blood-spells by King Thaet to kill the entire household upon Thaet's death, save for the heir and the Court Enchanter. The Enchanter then rewarded the Guardian by placing wards and spells upon the Guardian to extend his life. He was thereafter charged with the protection of the Ideskoror family. He was finally killed in an ambush by Byneras, the Sixth King. He was raised to undead by the then-current Court Enchanter (himself a Necromancer), and the now-undead corpse placed in this sarcophagus, charged with the protection of the family's most powerful magical items.
   
   Under the Guardian's sarcophagus is the entrance to a tunnel, "6." Should the Guardian's sarchophagus be tampered with, moved, or disturbed in any way, the Guardian will emerge. (Use stats for a Death Knight.)


6. Tunnel: This tunnel is carved from the very stone and earth beneath the Barrow. It is dank and musty, and only 5 feet tall for most of its length.


7. 7: Magical Vault: This vault contains the more powerful magical items of the Ideskoror Royal Family. There are a total of 3d6 minor magical items, 1d4 of which are minor magical weapons. There is a 10% chance that one of the magical weapons is actually a medium magical weapon.


8. Ossuary Hallway: Midway through room "4" is a locked (Open DC 40), secret door (Search DC 30). Upon opening the doorway, one sees a hallway lined with skulls and bones. At the far end, flames ignite, wreathing a doorway in fire. The passageway is only four feet high and the door at the far end is locked. (DC 40) The flames cause 1d4 hp damage per round to any creature w/in five feet. The flames extinguish when the door to "9" is opened.


9. Thaet's Tomb: King Thaet's remains rest in an ornately carved stone sarcophagus. The carvings represent four of his greatest military victories (one for each side of the sarcophagus) and a raised sculpture of Thaet himself on the lid. Each carving includes a single blue spinel set within the stone sword represented in each sculpture; the one on the lid is fist-sized. (4 gems at 500 gp each; 1 gem at 800 gp.)
   
   A statue of the deity Sizar, the Goddess of Souls (a.k.a. The Dread Queen) stands on a 5-foot-high dais on the south side of the room. The statue is surprisingly ugly, with bronzed skin, shoulder length, dark red hair, and eyes the color of shining silver. She is short and slightly plump, and looks somewhat insane. The statue is carved wearing worn, ragged clothing. Nothing of value can be pried from this statue; in any major city, the statue itself would be worth 1,000 gp in artistic/lore value if it can be removed from the dais without breaking (DC 40 Craft).
   
   The room itself resembles an ossuary. Bones line the walls and ceiling. In truth, the bones in this room and the previous hallway are those of the victims of the Guardian at Thaet's death. If Thaet's sarcophagus is disturbed or damaged in any way, the bones in this room animate and re-form into 4d10 human skeletal warriors, each armed with a longsword. There is nothing of value in the sarcophagus, only badly decomposed rags, which were obviously once fine clothing, and bones.
   
   A secret door (Search DC 20) is set in the north wall, and is locked (Open DC 30).


10. Pit Room: The center of this room contains a 10x10 spiked pit trap (CR 5, 40 ft. deep). The pit contains skeletal remains of two previous unsuccessful tomb-robbers and two small bags containing 100 gp and 50 cp each.


11. To the naked eye, this room is empty. However, when viewed by an individual using true seeing, there is an ornately carved stand bearing the sword of King Thaet. This sword is a Berserking Sword. The roomwide ward can be temporarily disrupted by use of dispel magic (DC 28). The ward on the room resets after 1d20 minutes.


12. Hallway: The secret door (Search DC 25) on the north end of "4" is locked (DC 30); the doorknob is smeared with contact poison (see DMG, CR 5). The hallway itself is empty, but echoes with the disconcerting sounds of faint screams (Listen 15); individuals in the hallway also feel a cold breeze from an undiscernable source. At the west end of the hallway is a secret door (Search DC 30) leading to "13."


13. Shrine: There is a shrine here to Aereaus, the God of Shame and Keys. The small statue of Aereaus is quite beautiful, with very pale skin, short, swirling medium brown hair, and eyes the color of the green sea, wearing a guarded expression. Proportionally, the statue shows that he would be very tall and muscular. The marble statue is carved wearing ornate leather armor decorated with many locks of varying sizes. In any major city the statue would have an artistic/lore value of 1,500 gp.


14. Preparation Room: In this room were the deceased Ideskoror Kings prepared for burial. There is a waist-high wooden table along the southern edge of the room, which will collapse in pieces if any substantial weight (more than 50 pounds) is rested upon it. The northern and eastern walls are lined by a countertop, on which rest several small chests. The ones on the north contain various tools and devices for the preparation of bodies. These tools are rusted and useless. The chests on the east contain various salves, herbs, and mixtures. All of these have lost their potency over time and are poisonous if ingested or applied. (For reference, use the stats for Malyss root paste (Contact DC 16), Black lotus extract (Contact DC 20), Id moss (Ingested DC 14), and Lich dust (Ingested DC 17).

Feel free to download and use. All I ask is for feedback; I'd love to know how you use it and where. I also have a non-tagged version available; just shoot me a message if you want one.

**Many thanks to Swordgleam at Chaotic Shiny for the various names and deities in this blog entry and for Jeff Rient's great blog entries about gemstones.