Graves Left Wanting

"An immense cemetery, older and greater than memory, Graven-Tosk sits in Sarkash like a festering scab. To the east, the Shadow King's manse looms always, impossibly equidistant. Although abandoned since the palace's ruination, bodies somehow keep finding their way inside. All the while, living and unliving attempt to claw their way out."

A starting adventure, a one-shot, or a post-TPK reset. The graveyard is so massive and unsettling that even PCs familiar with other parts are oblivious to its locales. The PCs awaken in The Plague Pit — in coffins under suffocating earth, or wherever the GM finds appropriate. There is no defined ending and no clear escape path. Once the Undertaker's Hut is explored, players should plan a getaway or be hopelessly lost. "Add a more obvious exit or method of escape if you feel that would end their misery. It won't."

Map (Not To Scale)

Five named places sit on the surface map — the Strangly Tree (1), the Plague Pit (2), the Origin Fountain (3), Maus' Vomatorium (4), and the Undertaker's Hut (5). The Plague Pit connects underground through the Catacomb Corridor to Erhard's Tomb, the Colander Room, and (via the Catacomb Corridor's north tunnel) the Roach Herder's Lair, which opens onto the Shadow King's Sewer. The sewer's hatch rises to the inside of the Strangly Tree.

Places may not be where they appear. The fog rearranges them.

Walking the Trails (d4)

When traveling between surface locations, roll d4 for where the path leads — and roll a random encounter (d10):

1. The Strangly Tree
2. The Plague Pit
3. The Origin Fountain
4. Maus' Vomatorium

Once all four primary surface locations have been visited, the next path leads to the Undertaker's Hut. The Roach Herder knows which way to go.

Random Encounter (d10)

1. d4 Rotted Skeletons skulking.
2. a ghastly Widow-wraith.
3. d4 Unbred Mutts digging.
4. d4 Half-billed Ravens.
5. d4 Hungry Zombies eating.

6–10. A random PC experiences Sensory Strangeness (see below).

Sensory Strangeness (d8)

1. The muffled sound of scratching.
2. Is everyone walking backwards?
3. A wind chills the spine yet makes you sweat.
4. An invisible breathing behind your left/right ear (50%).
5. That cherub just looked at you.
6. The sudden smell of wet dog.
7. Did something grab your hand just now?
8. You could swear there were more of you. Where's Skruggs?

What You Know About Graven-Tosk (d6, per PC)

1. A magical barrier stops the dead from leaving. (false)
2. The place is growing warmer. (true)
3. The graveyard is full; no one uses it anymore. (maybe)
4. The dead sleep well to a magical instrument's music. (false)
5. It's inescapable. (maybe)
6. The mist plays tricks on the mind. (true)

Rooms

The Plague Pit (start)

Repugnant smell. Moonlight the color of sour milk. Encircled by soupy fog whose tendrils occasionally creep down. Stale, warm air. Dark.

• Corpses at differing stages of decay.
• Any direction: the Graveyard.
• West: ruin-tunnel to Erhard's Tomb.

Loot the Bodies (d6, roll twice):

1. 3d10 silver.
2. d4 seemingly edible rations of dried meat.
3. Pendant featuring a portrait of a mouthless man.
4. Rusted but functional shortsword (d4).
5. 10′ rope with noose still firmly tied.
6. Pouch of white powder (win the next initiative roll automatically). d6 doses.

Erhard's Tomb

Floor covered in drifting fog.

• Standing sarcophagus (sealed).
• Flanked by two unlit torches.
• North: narrow crawl space to Catacomb Corridor.
• East: tunnel to Plague Pit.
• South: tunnel to Colander Room.

Opening the Sarcophagus. Test Strength DR18, reduced by 2 for each assistant. Failure: everyone involved takes d4 damage as the lid falls open. Inside is Erhard — see his entry.

The Catacomb Corridor

Dark and deadly quiet. Balmy and unventilated. Stretches north–south.

• Toothless skeletons rest in dusty niches along the walls.
• Three large urns on the floor.
• A lamp thrown on the ground.
• North: tunnel to the Roach Herder's Lair.
• East: crawlspace through broken niche-wall to Erhard's Tomb.
• South: staircase to Origin Fountain.

Open an Urn (d4):

1. Teeth, just teeth.
2. Rotted books and tube containing a random unclean scroll.
3. Decomposing corpse — a Twice-grown Corpse Fly bursts out of the soft skull, looking for food.
4. Lamp oil (4d6 hours).

The Colander Room

Half-lit by moonbeams piercing miniscule holes in stone and dirt. Long worms of mist droop and drip from the ceiling. The sound of chattering teeth.

• Circular chamber with a ceiling pierced by thousands of tiny holes.
• Three Fogbound Skeletons wrapped in foggy coils sit at a stone table, arguing.
• On the table: a locked metal strongbox.
• North: tunnel to Erhard's Tomb.
• East: earth tunnel to Maus' Vomatorium.

Unheard Voices. The Fogbound Skeletons speak with elongated tongues of mist, soundless save the clatter of tooth against tooth. One waves an elaborate key-like dagger — The Skeleton Unkey (d4). It opens any lock; things unlocked this way lead to unexpected, rarely convenient places.

Strongbox, Unlocked by Unkey (d4):

1. Full of flowing, cold water.
2. Reveals a PC's beating heart.
3. Releases a ray of dazzling light.
4. Contains red sand.

If opened by other means: 200 silver coins. Grabbing the dagger or strongbox makes the skeletons hostile.

Maus' Vomatorium

Acid's sour smell. Sickly puddles of green and yellow gall glow. The sound of a boiling pot.

• Ornate stone-walled chamber.
• Flagstone floor eroded by pools of gall.
• Two rows of columns hold the buckling ceiling.
• A marble coffin on a raised dais, leaking yellow gall from a bubbling lid.
• North: stone doors and staircase to the surface.
• West: collapsed wall to Colander Room.

The Noblewoman & the Witch. "The legendary bard-made-noble Fela Maus was cursed by a bog hag after neglecting to fulfill her part of a long-forgotten occult enterprise." The sour stomach-broth corrodes flesh but not bone, d6 damage per round near the dais. Floating in the wicked liquid are Maus' bones and the Roseate Baritona — her heresy-inscribed cursed organ, desecrated by the bog hag.

The Origin Fountain

The smell of stagnant water. Whispers of laughing children.

• A grand rectangular fountain, decorated and ancient.
• Cherubs vomiting mist.
• Two statues at the fountain's crest hold a stone jar.
• A bridge of protruding pillars leads across the mist to a stone door.
• North: door and steps to Catacomb Corridor.

Reaching the Door. Test Agility DR12 or slip on a pillar, falling into the mist. The cherubs laugh. Moments later, the PC wakes in the Catacomb Corridor, toothless and aged, head spinning with memories not quite their own — all abilities –1.

The Jar. Test Agility DR16 or fall into the mist. Contains Nostalgia Gruel — enough to restore two people to their prime, +1 to all abilities.

The Roach Herder's Lair

Hot and humid. Rancid sweat. Sound of rushing water from the north.

• Covered in debris and things stolen from nameless graves and tombs.
• An occupied throne of trash and would-be valuables.
• Roaches, meaty and otherwise, sit and scurry on the shit-stained floor.
• North: archway and tunnel to the Shadow King's Sewer.
• West: tunnel to the Catacomb Corridor.

The Recluse of Refuse. The Roach Herder sits on his throne, whip in hand. "After being unable to escape the cursed graveyard, his party members eventually died, leaving him terribly alone. Now he breeds cockroaches, hoping to hatch one big enough to fly him back to the city he once rejected." He is keen to attach himself to the party and will offer to guide them to the Undertaker's Shack. An insecure liar and untrustworthy narcissist who values his own skin above all else.

The Shadow King's Sewer

The air carries petrichor as ice-cold droplets splash warm stone. Words are drowned by pitch-black water deafeningly crashing past.

• Stone tunnel amputated by a river of frothing, rushing water heading north and west.
• North: nothing but cold, hard rock.
• South: tunnel and archway to the Roach Herder's Lair.
• Above: hatch and rope to the Strangly Tree. Someone standing on another's shoulders could reach.

The currents are strong. Anyone touching the water tests Strength DR14 or is swept away — they drown before long. Rotten coffins or makeshift rafts would surely be crushed before reaching the ocean.

The Strangly Tree

A wind blows through wheezing branches, chilling the air and carrying decay's smell far away.

• A huge tree, long since leafless.
• Branches groaning from a dozen hanging bodies' weight.
• Nooses sway excitedly in the wind.
• Above, a wooden door just big enough to crawl through, firmly planted at the top of a rickety plank ladder.
• Any direction: the Graveyard.
• Below: rope to the Shadow King's Sewer.

Inside the Tree. Going through the door reveals the trunk is hollow; a long rope attached somewhere far above leads somewhere far below. Climbing the rope tugs the nooses outside, pulling on their corpses with every movement — a macabre marionette show.

The Undertaker's Hut (Climax)

The intermingled smell of wet lumber and rotting flesh. Light flees through the cracks of a closed window shutter. Muffled voices are audible inside.

• Stone hut with a thatched roof and walls covered in creeping vines.
• Outside: piles of logs, a dozen barrels, half as many freshly made coffins.
• A robed woman's body in an open grave, beside her a worn shovel.
• Behind the hut: a small garden, overgrown.

The Deadn't. "The Undertaker dug graves and made coffins. She buried corpses and left them to rot. Some refused to do so quietly. Some, she silenced herself. Some died. Some didn't." The Deadn't are living, breathing people — like the PCs — who by chance or fate found themselves alive. They confronted the Undertaker to escape; she refused; they killed her. Unable to leave, they've decided to stick around. See The Deadn't, Stein, Benzen, Arga.

The Encounter. When the PCs arrive, the Deadn't are inside the hut, assigning chores and arguing about first watch. They're friendly enough and invite the PCs to join them in settling down.

And Then: A Twist of Fate

"At some point during the Deadn't encounter, the air grows suddenly chill and the ever-present flies' buzzing seems strangely distant. Neck hairs stand on the edge of an impossible abyss as the fog swirls around the uncovered grave."

The Übertaker rises. "Rising, floating a few feet above the ground, is the Undertaker's body. The face is gaunt, eyes sunken and filled with mad purple fire. Rune-covered robes swirl around grim feet, the shovel a fiery polearm of doom."

"Upon festering, the Undertaker's body and vengeful mind hosted a being both lesser and greater than human, a servant of a faraway underworld: an Übertaker. This creature is concerned with one thing — to bring people back below dirt."

See The Übertaker for full stat block and the four random round-actions (d4). On destruction, her torn robes can be rolled up and used as an Unclean Scroll (BEHOLD THE POWER — d4 creatures' next attacks deal maximum damage).

There is no escape route waiting. The booklet is direct on this: "Once the Undertaker's Hut is explored, the players should plan a potential getaway or be hopelessly lost."