Help me worldbuild the Barrowlands!

[Magicspook]

Hey guys!

In my campaign, which is mostly inspired by Irish mythology, my players (totem barbarian, mastermind rogue, divination wizard, champion fighter, all 3rd or 4th level depending on how fast they go) are tracing the steps of a previous adventurer, whom they know held a spear fashioned from cold iron, which they need to defeat a coven of hags. This adventurer, they have learned, passed through the local village some years ago towards the Barrowlands and was never seen again. The players will travel to the Barrowlands to a burial mound called hero’s helm, where the adventurer was said to be heading to.
The barrows of the Barrowlands were created several centuries ago (which places it solidly in the bronze age in my timeline) after a terrible battle was fought there. The heroic dead were interred in their mounds, but since those who beget death find that their own eternal slumber is but shallow, the folk who created the barrows fashioned a seal over the tomb of their deceased leader. This seal keeps the dead from rising as wights, most of the time. As long as the players stay within the circle of stones that ring hero’s helm, they are safe at night.

I am basing the atmosphere of this mini-adventure heavily on the scene at the barrow-downs in the first part of The Lord of the Rings; although normally I avoid taking inspiration from Tolkien, I think the barrow-downs are obscure enough that the similarities are not too obvious and the mood of those scenes is heavy and fantastical enough for my setting. If they break the seal covering the tomb, I intend to murderise my players using a Bodak (did you know they are actually from Gaelic mythology?) and inter them in the tomb, where they will discover their predecessor shared a similar fate. If they win the fight against the Bodak, no biggies, they only miss some cool atmosphere and an escape puzzle. So the story is mostly ironed out, but I need your help in designing the backstory of the Barrowlands as well as cluttering it a bit.

This is where you come in. If you have any ideas about things or creatures they might come across, rumours the villagers might tell about the Barrowlands, or lore that I might feed the players, please throw them at me! Questions that need answering in particular: who fought here, against whom? Who won? Who is the buried leader and how did he die? How can the players break the seal to get inside the tomb, and how can they get out when they are trapped inside? I would love to hear your thoughts!

[Magicspook]

{Scrubbed}

[HoboKnight]

Finally a thread, I can contribute to. I'm usually too late to the party, to write anything meaningful.

Here we go:

I find that mundane things really enrich my campaign, so I suggest, you go slow. Overland travel takes some time. Barrows should be somewhat remote.

I suggest you include a cloudy, wet and cold day. Describe the moor, the low hills, bogs, occasional rock, a dry bush. A dead tree.
Apart from this, have them stumble upon a large stone, resembling a milestone, coverd in anceint runes. Nothing magical, just remnant of the past.
Some strange protusions in the distance. If they explore, they find armored horse skeleton (heavily rusted armor), some skeletons, rusted swords, shields of rotten and soaked wood. A somber and sad place.

As for cratures, I suggest a spirit of a long-drowned girl. She does not attack, this is not a combat encounter. She asks for help (language is not known to NPCs, because she drowned longa ago), she pleads with them and flees several times to return again, if attacked. Her wailing may disturb the long rest, party may take.
A common pack of jackals in the distance. Or mangy wolves. Nothing dangerous.
A murder of crows upon a tree.
A tar-creature. A knight upon a horse with his trusty hound at his side, both made of animated tar. He rises out of the bog and attacks. Knight and his dog have sunk in the tar long ago, but the spirit has remained. This is shaped as combat encounter.

As for rumors in the village: There is rumor of (not-Gipy) girl seducing unvary men in the bog and drowning them. (Use some adjacent nation/ethnicity as an example).
Sometimes, after a storm, a pot of gold appears on top of low hills in the barrens. But beware, it is fool's gold! It will turn to mud as you depart the barrows.
In the barrows sleeps Baba Kacha - a serpent, as long as ten barns in a row. She is incredibly wise and knows all that was and will be in the region - but refuses to wake and talks only to the greatest of heroes. She will probably not talk to you.

This barrens have not been known as battlefields often, but about three hundred years ago, during The Giant Uprising, Yhorm The Usurper fought The Silver Hound - a great prince and slayer of Giants. Each had a massive army at their backs and it is said in windy nights you can still hear sound of clash of steel upon steel and Yhorm's moaning, due to his loss of Yinnifer(nobody knows who Y. was). In the battle, no one really won, but after this battle, Giants would not find another leader to guide them to glory up to this day. May such a day never come.

Buried leader is of older origin - Yarlon the Wheel Bearer. A strange man, a leader of brotherhood, who hunted the Skinchangers, who used to live here at the time (and infiltrate nearby duchies to impose as dukes and counts and torture people in most horrid ways). Yarlon has died in the hunt of a Great Skinchanger and was buried in one of the mounds. The Silver Hound should also be buried in one of the tombs, but it is not known where. Other places are filled with unknown corpses.

Seal can be broken in a special way. Around the ring of stones, almost touching it, a ring of salt must be made. One must wait for wind and humidity, to carry away and dissolve the salt. Thus, the seal is broken. Seal is renewed with the same procedure, only that one must use ash, to do it. Some people say, it must be blood, to do the second part, but this is false.

If salt is used, seal is broken - creatures will be able to enter, but Shadow aura will not allow anyone to depart. When strangers enter the mound, those who rest there, will awaken in un-life and attack untill intruders are killed or they are destroyed. If intruders are killed, the resting ones will return to their slumber. If they are destroyed, then visitors must return all corpses to their places and return every weapon and every piece of diceased's belongings to their place. Only then Shadow aura is lifted and visitors may depart the mound. Should they enter again, Shadow aura is raised again. Tomb can be resealed only with ash ritual as mentioned before.

[Randomthom]

Any suggestions would be welcome!

1st suggestion: Be VERY careful with the Bodak. It's one of those monsters that probably ought to have a higher CR. A Wraith or Revenant might be more level-appropriate. Perhaps with a pair of champion skeletons?

I like the idea of the ring of stones, maybe make it like a sanctuary spell where the undead have to beat a certain DC save (Cha?) to pass through it. Have a set number of stones around its' boundary and every time one of the undead fail to make it through the barrier a stone disintegrates. Communicate that the DC to enter falls by 1 for every stone that goes so the players know this won't hold forever. Perhaps the barrier even destroys undead outright.

You can take this idea further by having the big bad undead stood nearby while he sends his minions to weaken the barrier.

[carrdrivesyou]

Ideas:

1. I assume the hero was akin to Cu Chullain (spear reference), so why don't they meet his revenant form, who will not rest until the hags are dead, but he is imprisoned in his tomb.

2. I like the use of cloakers. They aren't terribly high CR, and fit the theme pretty well.

3. Having played LOTRO, and visited the area in question, I can 100% say that a bunch of mook skeletons the party could eliminate with a single cantrip or sword swing would add to the atmosphere. Believe me, an area looks a lot more dangerous and questionable when there is a literal LEGION of undead walking around, even if they are mook strength.

4. As for the Irish mythology part, you might consider pulling from more of the Tuatha de Dannan tree of stories. They had some seriously cool stuff going on!

[SpikeFightwicky]

Hey guys!

(*snip!*)

Villager rumors:
- Every anniversary of the hero's battle, the spirits rise and reenact the fight. (The rumor is true, but there are also some specters mixed among the spirits that hunt those who intrude on the battle)
- There's ancient treasure hidden in the mounds hidden in the tomb of a greedy king (house crest is a chalice overflowing with gold coins), one must only break the seal to gain passage...
- A revenant wanders the barrows at night. The story goes that his friend imprisoned him and used magic to assume his identity and live his life, and was buried along with his family. The revenant endlessly searches for his tomb to remove the imposter's remains before he can pass on peacefully.
- One of the tombs contains no remains, but a gate to the Feywild (in truth, it leads to the Shadowfell).
- Solve the riddle of the Pixie Queen of the Barrowlands, and you will granted a wish.
- The spirit of young woman who froze to death in the Barrowlands sometimes returns as a Winter Wolf.

Potential Geographical Features:
- Night lasts twice as long
- It's always overcast during the day
- Healing magic is half as effective.
- There's a 50% chance any spells that deal damage other than necrotic deal necrotic damage instead.
- During a new moon, a gate to the Shadowfell unleashes some random Undead.
- During a full moon, a gate to the Feywild unleashes some random malevolent Fey.
- When it rains, roll a d10:
1-5: Regular rain
6: Black ichor falls isntead of rain, causing 1d4 poison damage every round to anyone caught without shelter
7: Blood falls instead of rain, and 1d2 vampire spawn emerge from a tomb to hunt.
8: Hail falls, and a winter wolf roams the Barrowlands looking to add to her pack. This is the spirit of the young woman, and she a dire wolf and a pack of wolves (representing her victims) in tow.
9: The skies clear up and the moon glows gold. The earth rumbles and a tomb rises from the ground. The sealed entrance into the tomb shows a crest of a chalice overflowing with gold (if they "clear" the tomb, then this roll becomes regular rain).
10: The skies clear up and the moon glows red. Giant skeletons rise and stalk the land.

Lore:
To build on HoboKnight's ideas: most of the smaller barrows are built on top of ancient Giant barrows. Some of them lead to the giant barrows, where treasure can be found... guarded by the spirits of the giants.

Creatures:
Any Fey (though and Good or Neutral Fey shift one step closer Evil - Good becomes Neutral, Neutral becomes Evil)
Incorporeal undead - specifically Banshees and other spirits. Specters, Phantom Warriors, ghosts and wraiths are also appropriate.
Corporeal undead - dead combatants. Zombies, skeletons, Dread Warriors (Tales from the Yawning Portal, pg. 223), wights and deathlock wights (Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes, pg. 129)
The Living - a group of treasure hunters (maybe they'll break a seal and unleash something accidentally), ogres, ettins and hill giants drawn to the ancient battlefield (or doing a pilgrimage for their dead ancestors who fought in the ancient battle), a crazy halfling that took a barrow mound as his home (a place of shelter for the players, but the halfling will ask for various "remains" in return for shelter), swarms of crows (they fly away in a pinch when something bad is on its way).

I'll think of other stuff if this is at all useful!

[Sparky McDibben]

I don't have much in the way of system suggestions that haven't already been covered, but if you're looking for some inspiration, here're a couple quick videos:

Cú Chulainn
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MnVHLAH7MYI&list=PLDb22nlVXGgeoPb-HBWwzEeoAwDvckSrC&index=14&t=0s

Fionn Mac Cumhaill
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gVHyXcAJ-Ks&list=PLDb22nlVXGgeoPb-HBWwzEeoAwDvckSrC&index=22

Yes, they are done in a "chibi" style, but they are also quick, useful rundowns that are relevant for flavor, hooks, etc. *shrug* Hope they help!

[Magicspook]

Thanks everyone! I'm defininately using some of that! Keep it coming!

Something that I am not going to do is mook-level undead; the lowest I'm willing to go is the wight. I do this because I think undead are supposed to be scary, and CR 1/4 undead are never scary (not even dangerous unless theres a bunch of them). So I'm going to play up the atmosphere with each undead the players meet, and each of them should be a real threat.

I am planning for the corpse of their predecessor adventurer to be inside the tomb, his skeleton lying on his belly, arms outstretched towards the sealed door. This will telegraph what happens if the players lose to the bodak: they are sealed inside the tomb to die.

An additional question: what could be a nice magic item to place in the prince's tomb (who I've decided was the champion of one of the tuatha lords)? I've already decided that one of his items is a glamoured shirt (light armor, 12+DEX).

[HoboKnight]

An additional question: what could be a nice magic item to place in the prince's tomb (who I've decided was the champion of one of the tuatha lords)? I've already decided that one of his items is a glamoured shirt (light armor, 12+DEX).

Go for something nonstandard. I'd suggest a singing box. Or some other non-combat item with magical properties. Just take a magic item from 5e and refluff it. Surprise your players. Sword, crown and a shield? Yeah, this is expected. Alladin's lamp? Not so much. Avoid mundane shapes.

[Sparky McDibben]

Thanks everyone! I'm defininately using some of that! Keep it coming!

Something that I am not going to do is mook-level undead; the lowest I'm willing to go is the wight. I do this because I think undead are supposed to be scary, and CR 1/4 undead are never scary (not even dangerous unless theres a bunch of them). So I'm going to play up the atmosphere with each undead the players meet, and each of them should be a real threat.

I am planning for the corpse of their predecessor adventurer to be inside the tomb, his skeleton lying on his belly, arms outstretched towards the sealed door. This will telegraph what happens if the players lose to the bodak: they are sealed inside the tomb to die.

An additional question: what could be a nice magic item to place in the prince's tomb (who I've decided was the champion of one of the tuatha lords)? I've already decided that one of his items is a glamoured shirt (light armor, 12+DEX).

This is a good impulse to keep undead scary and rare, but just be aware about the dangers of action economy. If there's only one undead and four party members, well, that wight's going to the afterlife real quick. Minions can be useful to disrupt the party, or you can give the bodak bonus actions, reactions, etc. Maybe letting the bodak phase through the walls or floor, leading the players deeper into the cairn?

As for treasure, if you're looking for something kind of cool, maybe a cloak of billowing? From Xanathar's Guide to Everything, p 136, "While wearing this cloak, you can use a bonus action to make it billow dramatically." Watch your players fight over it while you laugh maniacally.

[Magicspook]

Go for something nonstandard. I'd suggest a singing box. Or some other non-combat item with magical properties. Just take a magic item from 5e and refluff it. Surprise your players. Sword, crown and a shield? Yeah, this is expected. Alladin's lamp? Not so much. Avoid mundane shapes.

Noted. Will think on this.


This is a good impulse to keep undead scary and rare, but just be aware about the dangers of action economy. If there's only one undead and four party members, well, that wight's going to the afterlife real quick. Minions can be useful to disrupt the party, or you can give the bodak bonus actions, reactions, etc. Maybe letting the bodak phase through the walls or floor, leading the players deeper into the cairn?

As for treasure, if you're looking for something kind of cool, maybe a cloak of billowing? From Xanathar's Guide to Everything, p 136, "While wearing this cloak, you can use a bonus action to make it billow dramatically." Watch your players fight over it while you laugh maniacally.

I think the Bodak will do fine. They don't have magi weapons, which means hes got ~100 effective HP. Since they will be level 4, 5 damage/turn will be quite big, and the space is cramped enough that they will have difficulty manoevring out of it. Its also got resistance to most of the wizard's damage types and will spawn behind the players, blocking their escape. I estimate it's got a 70% chance of murdering the party, which are about the odds that i am looking for.

U had actually planned a cloack of billowing somewhere else in the campaign (its my fav magic item), as a reward from the friendly neighbourhood wizard. But the tomb might actually be the place to put it!