Elsemere Wood Cemetery

These encounters will be appearing in the upcoming adventure The Horror of the Old Ones. In the meantime, feel free to drop them into your game wherever you need a creepy old cemetery. And who doesn't need a monster-filled cemetery?

Cemetery (EL 5)

A small clearing exists here, the first clear space in these dense woods since leaving Elsemere. Gravestones dot the landscape, many of them fallen over or half-hidden by vegetation.

creatures: begotten of the old one (1): HP: 70 A begotten of the old ones lives here. Born a child of the sea to one of the families in Elsemere, he grew up as a shut-in, hidden by his parents from the rest of the village. Upon his patents death he was discovered and driven out of the village. The maddening dreams of the wood have made him quite mad, and now he will viciously attack anyone entering the cemetery.

Mausoleum (EL 9)

Here in the center of the cemetery stands a family mausoleum, set into the side of a small hill. The hill and facade are bare of plants except a large gnarled tree above the yawning entrance. A palpable gloom hangs in the air here.

Inside the crypt there are four carved stone coffins. Two of the sarcophagus lids have been pushed open by tree roots, and an intricate brass sword stand lies toppled over at the head of one of them.

Several shriveled corpses with various armors and dusty equipment lie scattered on the ground here.

Anyone approaching within 30 ft of the death root becomes subject to it's fatiguing radiance and must succeed on a DC 15 Fortitude save or become fatigued.

Investigating the bodies, a DC 20 heal or spot check, reveals that they were crushed and drained of blood through many tiny wounds.

creatures: death root (1): HP: 63 A death root - the tree - is on top and inside the crypt and will attack anyone entering once they have come inside.

treasure: Here there are several dead adventurers and their gear, plus loot from the sarcophagus. All together it amounts to 1,200 gold, a smooth marble scepter worth 600gp, an intricate brass sword-stand worth 90gp, an arcane scroll containing: gentle repose (lvl 3, cast 5), sleep (lvl 1, cast 1), and undetectable alignment (lvl 1, cast 1) (450gp value). Additionally there is a +1 longsword (2,315gp) and another arcane scroll containing: feather fall (lvl 1, cast 1), bull's strength (lvl 2, cast 3) and glitterdust (lvl 2, cast 3) (150gp) (325gp value).