Description
The onyx steps descend into catacombs containing the remains of Illrigers who died fighting at
Zariel’s side. Their restless spirits yearn for peace yet are doomed to haunt this place until once more called to arms.
Dozens of dead knights kneel before the monoliths, their foreheads resting on the pommels of their swords. The knights’ armor serves as caskets for their bones, yet their corpses stay upright as though in prayer.
C1. Sealed Gates
Descending into the catacombs, a pair of basalt doors block the passage ahead, their surfaces engraved with a relief of a knight locked in combat with robed
Lich.
The doors do not have visible handles, locks, or bolts, and they are magically locked, hardened, and enchanted to resist
Magic. Any spell cast to unlock, damage, or re-mold the doors automatically fails. Characters can use dimension door or similar magic to get past the doors. They can also slip through the cracks between the doors if they have the magic to do so (such as the gaseous form spell). Otherwise, they’ll need the speak the pass phrase
“For Power” to proceed any farther.
If a character speaks the pass phrase aloud within 10 feet of the doors, the doors slowly grind open. The doors close on their own after 1 hour unless they are held or wedged open.
C2. Funerary Chambers
There are several funerary chambers in the catacombs.
Large iron burial urns are positioned reverently throughout this hall, each engraved with a noble coats-of-arms from the kingdom of Lorien. Polished swords, lances, and shields hang from racks on the walls.
If a character says respectful words over the urns or disturb them in any way, three ghosts of Zariel’s knights arise from their remains. The ghosts solemnly reveal the following information:
- The knights fought and died alongside the angel Zariel before she became an Archdevil.
- The knights’ souls are cursed to remain here. They yearn for the afterlife, but the oath they swore to Zariel binds them to her service. They beg the characters to help them find rest.
If the characters promise to help the ghosts achieve their final rest, the ghosts provide the following additional information:
- Kas fear Vecna, but possess artifact that prevent the god of secret from regaining his powers, artifact he stole from Vecna, the eyes and hands.
- Kas hid here around 1070 BD when Vecna first returned.
- Once summoned, the ghosts remain by their urns until the characters leave the catacombs or free their souls. If a character defiles any remains, the ghosts use their Possession powers to drive the trespassers from the catacombs.
C3. Knights’ Caskets
Recesses in the walls hold iron burial caskets. Each casket has a single, healthy red rose resting on its lid.
Each of these corridors contains six caskets arranged in stacked pairs.
Being entombed in
Ira has corrupted the spirits of these knights. Each casket contains a single
Wraith magically held at bay by the rose laid on the casket. If a character removes a rose from a casket, the flower immediately withers and dies, and the wraith arises from the casket to attack any living creature or fiend that it sees. A wraith can’t touch any of the roses on the other caskets.
C4. Warlocks’ Tomb
An iron urn heaped with
Human bones squats in an alcove at one end of this hall. On the wall nearby, a carved relief shows a column of mounted knights charging through a portal into a fiery hellscape.
The warlocks that once stood there to guard the crypt were defeated by Kas, and replaced by 8 of his lieutenant, 8 mummies guarding the path to the memorial steles. If the undead hear the characters elsewhere in the catacombs, they hide inside the large urn to the west. When the characters enter, they try to creep out silently and ambush them.
Treasure. One of the mummies carries a wand of secrets, and another wears a necklace of fireballs. If the characters defeat the undead, they can claim these items for themselves.
C5. Memorial Steles
Four memorial steles stand in this hall, each engraved with hundreds of names. A legend etched at the top of each stele reads, in Common: “Here lie the fallen. May their souls echo here until the end of time.”
Adorning the wall across from the steles is a carved relief showing a solemn elf knight on the back of a giant elk. The elk is reared up on its hind legs, and the elf holds his sword high. All around them are the broken bodies of fallen knights and undead.
Characters who use detect magic or similar magic to examine the steles discern a strong aura of necromantic magic emanating from the engraved names.
While the steles remain empowered, necrotic energy lashes out at anyone who touches them. A creature touching a stele must make a DC 15 Dexterity saving throw, taking 36 (8d8) necrotic damage on a failed save, or half as much damage on a successful one. If the soulbound parchments in both ritual rooms (area C6) are destroyed, the steles deactivate. The characters can then free the warriors’ souls by striking their names from the stone. As the names are removed, the knights’ ghosts fade from view with gasps of relief. If all the names are struck from the stele, each character gains the benefit of a bless spell that lasts for 24 hours.
C6. Ritual Rooms
These two rooms are hidden behind secret doors. Characters with passive Wisdom (Perception) scores of 15 or higher spot a secret door within 5 feet of them. Otherwise, a secret door can be found by a character who examines the surrounding wall and succeeds on a DC 15 Wisdom (Perception) check.
These rooms are magically shielded against undead creatures, such that undead can’t enter either room or even perceive its presence. Each ritual room appears to contain nothing more than ankle-deep mist. However, any character who explores a ritual room disturbs the mist enough to see features hidden underneath it:
As you disturb the ankle-deep mist, it parts to reveal a ritual circle daubed in blood on the floor. Hundreds of slivers of parchment are arranged within it, each tiny strip bearing a name written neatly in blood.
The papers name every warrior interned in this place. Any character who has seen the steles in area C5 can, with a successful DC 14 Intelligence (Arcana) check, discern the papers’ purpose: they bind the warriors’ souls to the steles and compel them to serve Kas in undeath by the terms of their original oath to Vecna. By destroying the papers, the characters deactivate the memorial steles and can release the knights’ souls from servitude (see area C5 for details).
C7. Kas’ Retreat
This room is hidden behind a secret door. Characters with passive Wisdom (Perception) scores of 15 or higher spot the secret door once they get within 5 feet of it. Otherwise, it can be found by a character who examines the surrounding wall and succeeds on a DC 15 Wisdom (Perception) check. If the characters open the secret door, read the following boxed text to the players:
A stack of eight leather-bound journals and a locked Iron box rests atop a large writing table in this cramped chamber.
The journals belong to Kas the
Death Knight and are written in Elvish. Characters who spend a short rest poring over the journals learn the following information:
- Kas never fully recovered from his fight against Vecna, The artifact he stole barely compensate for the power he lost.
- Olanthius describes Haruman, his one-time comrade in arms, as a heartless man bereft of compassion — now a devil bent on punishing anyone who stands in Zariel’s way.
- Olanthius mourns the deaths of his fallen warriors and feels powerless to help them.
Treasure. The Iron box is locked, and require a DC 18 dexterity check with thieves tool to open, or a key held by Kas. Inside the box is the eye and hand of Vecna.
Kas Returns
If the characters desecrate any of the tombs or disturb the journals or box in area C7, Kas the death knight returns to the crypt on a chariot pulled by two gorgons. He descends below ground to hunt down intruders and interrogate them, leaving the gorgons and chariot outside.
As Kas moves through the catacombs, he compels any ghosts he encounters to fight at his side. Any ghosts that the characters summoned from the urns in the funerary chambers (area C2) transform into specters under Kas’ command and join him on his hunt.
History
Zariel’s warlocks helped build the Crypt of the Illrigers to gain infernal power in the mortal world. When they died, their cursed bodies were dragged into Ira to guard the tomb for eternity.
Comments
Author's Notes
Inspired by the crypt of Hellknights from the forgotten realms