Curse of the Skull Throne

[Izzarra]

Disclaimer: If you are a player in one of my games, or wish to be a player in one of my games at some point, this thread will contain spoilers.

I am working on setting up a new campaign arc (D&D 5e running from levels 4 to 7) and I could use help flushing out the surrounding area with fluff, encounters (combat and noncombat), side quests, npcs, etc. I should be able to populate the tower itself, but suggestions on things to go in there are appreciated.

Currently calling it "Curse of the Skull Throne" here is the premise:

Years ago a powerful necromancer (that really liked animating skeletons) was defeated while assaulting a castle. However, the necromancer’s tower remained. Many adventurers have gone there attempting to loot any treasures to be found in the tower but none have returned. Over the years pestilence and decay have slowly spread from the tower killing and corrupting the lands surrounding the tower.

In the tower is a throne made with the skull of a giant, and rumor has it that only the destruction of this throne will remove the curse. The throne is set on a large pile of bones that are hiding the entire giant’s skeleton that attacks when disturbed.

Content Ideas
- On the borders of the forsaken former lands of the necromancer there is an Inn. On every table is a container of cutlery. Those that bring their own cutlery are served normally. Those that use the cutlery that is provided are killed and served to the next patrons that use the cutlery that is provided.
- A flock of undead crows (only bones and feathers) follows the party cawing to draw the attention of large predators.
- What looks like a crop of trees from a distance turns out to be dozens of huge totems made of bones.

[Pauly]

NPC “The Baron”.
A spirit. Appears as a tall man wearing cheaply made facsimile of elaborate and formal clothes. Likes to drink rum, tell dirty jokes, make passes at the ladies and generally party.

He was the mentor of the necromancer, who the necromancer killed to gain power. He was a very powerful sorcerer, but viewed himself as a protector of the spirits of the dead. He wants the necromancer defeated so that the spirits of the dead can enter the afterlife.

He will help the party on a strictly transactional basis. They have to pay him his price before he will help. He may be willing to accept the promise of future payments, but any failure to pay in full will make him an unrelenting enemy.

He has the power to send other spirits to help the party, these spirits will possess the body of the party member and they will gain the memories of that spirit permanently, as well as the powers/skills/abilities that spirit had while it was alive during the possession. The possession is of a random duration and the PC will simply be a passenger in their own body while the possessing spirit is in control.

[Izzarra]

Thanks Pauly, this is exactly the kind of material I am in need of.

[MaryPoppinsYall]

I've always been a fan of the random unexplainable creepy with things like this.


They wake up while camping and there's a coffin next to them. Child size of course. They find dolls of themselves in the woods or in their bag.

While traveling whoever rolls highest perception hears something. When the group investigates, they find a hurt animal or tied up villager. Just before dealing with it, stop the encounter. "Okay, everyone who isn't Jacob the Knight, you didn't realize he had walked off into the woods, but clearly his footsteps go that way." The entire thing was imagined by the player who rolled high. The others come across him acting like he's freeing the person or helping the animal. Until they shake him awake as if he's sleep walking.

[Izzarra]

I've always been a fan of the random unexplainable creepy with things like this.
These are great, thank you.

[KorvinStarmast]

These are great, thank you. A banshee is seeking revenge on the now dead necromancer.
Party runs across her. She seems to have lost her life's purpose with the necromancer having gone missing, but is still bent on {unrequited} vengeance.

Does the party try to:
Help her?
Fight her?
Turn her and get on with their adventure?
Other thing?

[Trask]

The forsaken wilderness around the tower is home to huge flocks of blackbirds that roam. It seems that in some parts of the dark and twisted forest there is one on every tree, but they are by all appearances harmless to travelers. However it is said by the gaunt and weary serfs that still remain in that blasted waste that the blackbirds are the spies of the Necromancer and report on everything that happens in his dominion. More gentle folk scoff at this and believe it to be nothing more than the superstitions and coping mechanisms of a sad and oppressed people and have "proved" this fact by capturing many birds and dissecting them, analyzing them with both the scientific and magical arts for any sign of this connection and found nothing. But it is actually true, and can be proven by the Druids, those few who remain alive or uncorrupted by evil, through interrogation using their animal speech

As a further note, the peasantry of the forsaken wilderness kill blackbirds wherever they are found (but never eat them, one should avoid eating any animal that comes from the godforsaken place if you can) but unfortunately are often overzealous and kill any black colored bird, including crows and ravens, many of which are the familiars of magic-users scouting the area, leaving them blind.

[Gnoman]

Bit of a twisty one

Deep within the mountains lies an ancient shrine of bone, guarded by the Dead. Within this cathedral of death, accompanied by a choir of lost souls, sits a robed skeleton with a scythe. The twist is that this is not the Necromancer that built the tower, nor any Necromancer at all - it is a cleric or avatar of the God of Death, guarding the spirits of all who have died here since the tower was raised, They trapped in this place by the perversion of Death that the tower represents, and would quickly join the tower's army of the dead if it were not for the protection given. The avatar/cleric seeks to aid the party in destroying this blasphemous ruin and allow the natural cycle of life and death to resume in this land.

[JoshuaZ]

Trying to keep these somewhat system agnostic:

An undead child appears one night at their campsite. The child follows the party around, asking them if they can take the child to their mother. The child does not realize it is dead. Depending on the players and how much they are comfortable with, may instead want the child to decide that two of the PCs are the child's parents.

The PCs in their explorations find a goblet with strange markings on it. Drinking from the goblet gives someone a brief glimpse into a terrible and painful death. The next time they would be grievously injured or near death, they get some sort of corresponding bonus. The goblet only works once a day and only once for any given person.

[animorte]

A group of religious looking folk have always been dedicated to the workings of the necromancer. They seek out ways to get closer to his work and study it. They pay for information (with borderline suspicious favors and equipment) from the tower and it’s visitors.

Other religious or divine individuals are easily persuaded to assist them. They practice his work and are ultimately searching for the remains of the necromancer, their posthumous idol, with full intent to bring him back… if he is even truly deceased. They have strong beliefs.

A fog seems to crawl out from the ground near the tower where vegetation once grew. Close inspection reveals that the fog seems physical. It can be pushed aside, but it will gradually assume the shape of anything it touches and remain that way until touched by something else. Some of these fog shapes resemble other humanoids, monsters, or equipment that could have passed through within hours or even many years.