The Tarak D&D Campaign - Into The Burial Mound

Welcome to the next post in a series where I describe the adventures during a 5th Edition Dungeons & Dragons campaign I ran a little while ago.

Last time, the players picked one of several mission options they'd been offered. They decided to go into the woods, fight a party of hobgoblins, and discover what they were doing there. The battle that ensued surprised them with it's toughness; hobgoblins aren't massively strong monsters, but their organisation and discipline were a shock to the players. After a very hard-fought battle, the hobgoblins were beaten. They'd been tunnelling into a mound, but the party needed a long rest before they were ready to investigate further.

This post actually gives you a very small mini-dungeon you could easily incorporate into one of your own adventures. Our party took a full evening session to explore it, but were relatively cautious (they're learning !) and found it reasonably well balanced for their abilities and level.

The Mound

On closer inspection, the mound the hobgoblins were tunnelling into looked like a long-forgotten burial mound. The location of the original entrance was uncertain, but the hobgoblin tunnel was well constructed, lined and shored up with freshly hewn planking from nearby trees.

A good (DC15) check from someone with knowledge local or religion once they’re far enough in would give them the realisation that this style of tomb went out of fashion at the point where Sidhiara conquered Tarak 3000 years ago, but that prior to that, was used by noble or royal families, not commoners.

The Mound.jpg

The Entryway

The hobgoblin tunnel had just breached the old entry way.

The walls of this entry are made of inward-leaning slabs of rock with shorter slabs making the ceiling. The outer end is blocked by a huge slab of rock that originally sealed the tomb, and should be almost impossible for low level characters to move.

The inner end of the entryway has two slabs, and a combined strength of 20 will move them on passing a DC15 check – a good perception check will see that they are pivoted at the two outer edges, but of course they’ve had a few centuries to become stuck.

The Antechamber

The antechamber is also formed of heavy stone slabs, angled inward and bridged with shorter ones to create a ceiling. It is 30 foot square.

The walls are covered in ornate carvings; complex knotwork wraps around scenes of heroes slaying dragons and fantastical beasts, very much in a Celtic style.

It was once filled with old furnishings, offerings etc. There are benches, ornate chairs, cushions, a chariot, bronze and gold fitted horse furniture, Much of it has been reduced to dried remnants which fall to dust if touched. But three blue-glazed ceramic vases are worth 100gp each to the right collector. Collecting bits of gold from the dust is an hours’ work and will give 100gp worth of scraps.

At the far side of the antechamber are two life-sized warrior statues standing 5 feet apart. Once, they may have been painted in lifelike colours, but this has faded and flaked. They are actually Stonecursed, from Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes, page 240. They are indistinguishable from ordinary statues until activated (see below).

The 5 foot space between the statues is where the entrance to the burial chamber lies. Again, pushing slabs is the key; two of them making a 5’ wide door.. In this case, once they are a few inches apart, a seal can be seen – it is lead, on a bronze chain, and must be cut or broken to gain entry. It's covered with inscriptions that are obviously curses of some kind, but are actually ineffective (other than playing with the players' minds....)

Image created by AI in Nightcafe Studio

The Burial Chamber

The burial chamber is a circular domed space some 40 feet in diameter, like a tholos tomb. The walls are covered in more knotwork carvings, this time seeming to show the deeds of a great warrior slaying untold hordes of some unidentifiable foe. Two more matching statues flank the entrance.

Towards the back wall is a large granite sarcophagus, engraved in similar style. It too has a lead seal which will (if checked) emanate faint transmutation magic. If it is broken, the party will hear a “clunk” from above them. A few rounds later, water will begin misting in for 2 minutes, halving any fire damage and extinguishing small flames.

Opening the sarcophagus lid is just about decent strength checks.

Inside is a mummy with a sword upon its breast, clutched in it’s bandaged hands. Touching the sword or mummy will kick everything off….. all 4 statues come to life, as does the mummy, and the water mist. The sword is a little tarnished and dusty, but nowhere near as corroded as would be expected after this long underground.

The mummy is in fact that of Chief Tobarog Blackmont – the clue will be on the Blackmont insignia on the sword’s cross-guard and on the circlet. Caradoc Blackmont was one of the earliest leaders of the clan, a close follower of Valdar the Conqueror who established the Kingdom of Thraki 3500 years ago. If the party bother to talk to him, he’ll tell them all this… all while trying to kill them. He can be made to stop by a descendant, at which point he’ll ask them to restore him to his sarcophagus and leave in peace (spoiler... our party went full murderhobo on him 😁). He’ll also warn them to beware “That idiot descendant of his, Prince Imrar”, but may give the impression of being a bit temporally confused.

Image created by AI in Nightcafe Studio

The mummy is slightly tweaked from the standard issue in the Monster Manual...

Medium undead, lawful evil
Armor Class 16 (natural armour + magical protection)
Hit Points 88 (9d8 + 18)
Speed 20 ft.
STR 16 (+3)
DEX 8 (-1)
CON 15 (+2)
INT 6 (-2)
WIS 10 (+0)
CHA 12 (+2)

Damage Vulnerabilities; fire (but his Ring of Fire resistance counters this)
Damage Resistances; bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing from nonmagical attacks
Damage Immunities; necrotic, poison
Condition Immunities; charmed, exhaustion, frightened, paralyzed, poisoned
Senses; darkvision 60 ft., passive Perception 10
Languages; Ancient Thrakari, Sidhiaran Elvish, Common (but a very archaic dialect)
Challenge Rating: 5

ACTIONS
Multiattack. The mummy can use its Dreadful Glare, makes one attack with its rotting fist and one wit it’s sword.

Rotting Fist. Melee Weapon Attack: +5 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 10 (2d6 + 3) bludgeoning damage plus 10 (3d6) necrotic damage. If the target is a creature, it must succeed on a DC 12 Constitution saving throw or be cursed with mummy rot. The cursed target can't regain hit points, and its hit point maximum decreases by 10 (3d6) for every 24 hours that elapse. If the curse reduces the target's hit point maximum to 0, the target dies, and its body turns to dust. The curse lasts until removed by the remove curse spell or other magic.

Dreadful Glare. The mummy targets one creature it can see within 60 feet of it. If the target can see the mummy, it must succeed on a DC 11 Wisdom saving throw against this magic or become frightened until the end of the mummy's next turn. If the target fails the saving throw by 5 or more, it is also paralyzed for the same duration. A target that succeeds on the saving throw is immune to the Dreadful Glare of all mummies (but not mummy lords) for the next 24 hours.

+1 Bronze Longsword. Melee Weapon Attack: +6 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 10 (1d8 + 4) magical slashing. Bends on a natural 1, needing a bronzeworker (need to find one, who will charge 50gp) and Mending spell (cantrip, casting time 1 minute) to repair.

The mummy has a ring of Fire Resistance (hidden under the bandages).

It also has 500gp worth of assorted jewellery, charms etc embedded in the bandages, and a silver circlet worth 200gp.

Next time... Recruited !