Thurstle Island: Barrow of the Twisted Wyrm

The dragon of Thurstle Island is buried in its most traditional dungeon, a prison-tomb filled with traps, puzzles, undead and demons.

How It Works

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• The barrow has three levels and this post details the first one, the upper tomb.
• Lore about this dungeon is seeded all over the island, on stelae, in rumors etc. 
• The central chamber is a magical maze. Living creatures cannot pass through the walls but objects and undead can. The party will likely attract the cursed husks of former tomb-raiders here.
• Each of the wings contains a blend of traps, puzzles and monsters protecting artifacts of Ulric's battle with the wyrm. In a few places the horrors below are peeking through.
• A locked stairway leads to the lower levels. 
• The second level of the dungeon is crawling with demons and the lowest level holds the remains of the wyrm itself. 
• Each level down is a very large increase in difficulty for adventurers. My intent is that the players will explore the first level, leave to gather strength & information, and then return. 
• The wyrm is intended as one possible Final Boss for Thurstle Island.
• The cultists in the island's NW worship the wyrm.
• The warrior-monks of the abbey believe they can harness the demon's power for their own ends. They're probably wrong, but even if they are right it will turn out awful.
• The druids from the Old Forest know that something evil is hidden in the barrow but have lost most of the details over the centuries.

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A History Lesson

Crossing the Abyss, pierced by a black barb of chaos, the wyrm Dendar tunneled into our world to feast on the dreams of men and gods.

His sleep disturbed, Ulric pursued the wyrm over water, air and land. He hewed apart Dendar's coils and scattered them across the earth. 

The first inhabitant of Thurstle Island was a dead dragon from another plane. Dendar the Unending. Dendar the Dreameater. The Twisted Wyrm. 

The wyrm angered Ulric and the wrathful god dragged the dragon from the sea. Dendar took to the sky, but Ulric threw his mighty angon and the pierced dragon fell. They fought for three days and the god cut the great serpent apart.

Hans von Wolzogen

Ulric built a great barrow to imprison the remains. From this prison they reach out, even now drawing disciples. 

A generation ago, Gothic crusaders broke into the tomb, seeking treasure and instead found a half-awake demon dragon. They were changed by the experience and the few that escaped went on to found the island's abbey. 

Stelae around the island commemorate these events.

From Bearded Devil. His barrow was a massive inspiration.

The Exterior 

The barrow appears as a massive hillock with a few stelae on top. I'll use these monuments to fill in essential lore before the player characters enter. Hopefully, the party will have gathered a lot of additional clues before arriving.

There are two entrances:

• The Main Door: Depicts the face of a giant. Elsewhere on the island there is a stela that instructs "Should the Wyrm run rampant, show my servant this sign." with a dragon symbol. Displaying this sign (drawing etc) before the door will cause it to open. There is a stone giant inside. Breaking down the door will bring retaliation.
• The Tunnel: Gothic crusaders broke into the barrow by digging a tunnel. This tunnel is now inhabited by an ice snake. I'll switch out the monster if I think of something better. The tunnel leads into the central chamber of the upper level.

I plan to make a few smaller barrows for dead viking heroes.

The Interior

Entrance

• Stone Giant: Behind large stone slabs depicting his face, a stone giant waits in the dark. 
• If the party opens the door by displaying a symbol as instructed on a stele outside, the giant will amble to his feet and push open the heavy stone doors into the interior of the tomb. 
• If the party breaks open the door, he will attack. Opening the second set of heavy stone doors into the interior will require a combined strength of 30 (or whatever is difficult for a few people in your system).
• Shrine: A shrine to Ulric. The doors into the interior of the barrow are broken open and the shrine has been desecrated. If a character cleans it up, they will receive a blessing. If a cleric of the Norse religion prays here, they will gain bonus favor (restore spells etc.). 

Main Chamber

The main chamber is paved in an elaborate Maze Mosaic. 

• Living creatures cannot pass through the black "walls" and must follow the white "paths".  
• In the center of the maze there is a stela and an altar basin. Pouring out a libation into the basin, deactivates the maze. 
• Living creatures can navigate through the maze to the far side (towards the Flip Trap) but won't be able to reach the wall niches without deactivating the maze.
• The paths are only wide enough for one person and there is not space to move or easily attack past each other.
• It is not clear on the maze below, but there are exits at each corner.

While the player characters are navigating the maze, they will likely attract the hostile attention of the Cursed Crusaders, lurking in the hall to the east. 

• 2-6 of them will attack, stats as heavily armored zombies with rusted knightly weapons.
• Because they are not living, they can move across the mosaic unhindered by the maze.
• These are the undead remnants of some of the Gothic tomb raiders.
• They retain enough of their military training to use basic strategy.
• Restricted movement could make this tactically difficult.

Rummage the corpse (multiple options in case of re-roll):

1. Sharp edges and rot: roll for infection.
2. A masonry mallet / usable heater shield +2AC
3. Usable great helm +2 AC but disadvantage alertness / manica +1AC
4. Gold teeth: d10 x d10gp / purse of gold coins
5. Rondel dagger, +1 damage / flanged mace
6. Boots of stomping: +d4 damage vs prone targets but disadvantage to move quietly.

Wall Niches

Each stone panel contains a painted image that indicates what is behind it. Breaking the panel releases toxic gas, save vs. poison. 

• Empty - Panel is broken open and already looted. Acrid smell inside. 
• Meteor - A sliver of warptone on a pedestal.
• Holy Water - d6 doses
• Gold - d4x100gp
• Sword - A heroes sword. Counts as blessed for fighting demons. 
• Gem - d6x100gp
• Tomb Guard - A spectral disir (stats as ghost, shadow, spectre etc). Will attack anyone who has damaged the tomb (including the zombie crusaders). 
• Betrayed Crusader - The panel is broken and the chamber looted but the niche contains the armored corpse of a crusader. If examined:
• A misericorde with a rose shaped pommel driven between the back plates of his armor.
• A large symbol of "The Lady" hanging from his neck. The undead crusaders will avoid anyone displaying this. 
• Scratched into his arm guard, "Kasper b"
• Shield depicting a stag. No sword or other weapons.
• Kasper, whose crest is a black rose, is one of the founders of the abbey. Their lieutenant carries a sword with a stag antler handle.

West Wing

• Cauldron Trap: An enormous, surprisingly pristine white fur covers the floor. 
• Runes on the wall read "Glamorous Carpet" 
• The fur is illusory. There is no floor and entering the room dumps you into a colossal cauldron of boiling water (a magical treasure of Ulric). There is an undead skeleton inside who will fight your escape.
• Aging Tiles: A puzzle I stole from Bearded Devil. My version is a bit easier (he had a 7x7 grid).
• An inscription on the door warns "You must leave as you entered"
• Each tile ages or de-ages you by specific amount (10, 20 or 30 years) and you must exit the room the same age you entered it.
• Getting too old or too young is lethal. 
• The tiles are marked in a rune, players will have to decipher which rune corresponds to which effect (age/de-age tiles of corresponding amounts are upside-down of each other) 
• On the below diagrams the east door is at the bottom (sorry!)

• Warpstone: A chunk of calcified chaos, safely stored far from those it might corrupt.
• Floor Crack and Fumes: The room swirls with a malignant mist, seeping up from the level below. Shelves and display plinths that have clearly already been looted.
• Breathing the mist causes hallucinations and visions of the Wyrm. Anyone who breathes it will begin to have nightmares of the Wyrm when they sleep and may hear the voice of the Wyrm in their head from time to time. This corrupted the Gothic Crusaders.
• Nithing Pole: A severed horse-head on a pole will curse anyone who sees it. 
• "May the spears of your enemies pierce you deeply." 
• Take maximum damage from any spear attack that hits you until the curse is removed. 
• Angon: The barbed spear Ulric used to bring down Dendar is displayed here. 
• Counts as a blessed weapon for fighting demons.
• +5 to hit versus a flying enemy and deals double damage vs. dragons and flying demons.
• Any winged creature pierced by this weapon cannot fly until it is removed.

East Wing

• Fenris - A monstrous wolf  (like Fenrir) has been set as guardian. A mini-boss monster.

Luke Farley

• Pool - The east half of this room is a pool of crystal clear water, ten feet deep. The wall behind the pool is pained to show Ulric pulling Dendar up from the seabed with a hook on a rope. 
• An underwater passage is clearly visible leading toward the east. This passage branches and leads to corresponding pools in the Fish Hook room and in the Treasure Room. 
  
• Treasure Room: d4x100gp and a random magic item.
• Demon Statue: A figure of melted black coral grows out of the floor here. Looks like a crude, organically formed Warhammer chaos knight.  Proffers an obsidian sword and an inscription on the pedestal reads, "Only the bravest shall claim this blade." The sword is free for the taking.
• Borrowed from Tamás Kisbali
• Hair Rope: The rope Ulric used to drag up the Wyrm in a decorative casket. Woven from his own hair. Basically, indestructible.
• Fish Hook: Ulric's hook. As grappling hook, but can be used as a d6 weapon. 
• Counts as a blessed weapon for fighting demons.
• Deals double damage to any creature with scales.

North Wing: 

• The passage to the North contains a Flip Trap. which I forgot to label (sorry again!)
• A floor panel is built on a pivot. The south side is supported but walking past the pivot point causes the panel to flip up and deposit anyone on top into a pit full of barbed spikes.
• The panel locks into the vertical alignment and blocks passage. It can be reset by climbing down a ladder and releasing a latch.
• A previous tomb robber fell into the pit and died. Their undead corpse is trapped on a barbed spike but will attack anyone else who falls in. 

• Golden Door & Vargouille: Large double doors lead to the lower level. Locked and warded. Can only be opened with a key. 
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• The key was taken by the crusader tomb robbers when they left. It is in the ruins of their fort (or is it at the Abbey?). 
• The zombified crusader that lurks in front of the door is more than they seem. When damaged: 
• The wounded knight's flops his head to the side and you can hear the bones in his neck crunch.With both hands, he pulls off his helm and flings it aside. He begins to wail and his head telescopes out from his body on his esophagus, leaving the broken stump of the spine behind. The head launches into the air, pulling behind it a tangled mess of entrails and organs, like the most horrible man-o-war. You can see the lungs expand and compress with each harrowing yowl.
• All hirelings lose d4 points of morale (or whatever makes sense in your system). 
• Vargouille per Arnold of Goblin Punch. "...it also means that players might be surprised when they kill some death knight-smelling motherfucker and then the head pops off, screams, and flies away."

Wandering Monsters

1. Undead Crusaders - Several of them. A couple with mangled legs, crawling. Others with spears.
2. Crusader Ghost: As "The Abandoned" from Arnold. Its skeleton is in the flip trap (but inert)
3. Semi-formed Demon - Blurry and only half-manifest. Unharmed by normal weapons. Will dissolve in d4 rounds.
4. Nightmarish Visions - A nightmare vision from Dendar. Deals psychic damage.
5. Harrowing Yowl - It's the damned vargouille, but the players don't know that yet. If this happens during a rest, no HP can be gained from resting activities. 
6. Tempting Whispers - A voice in your head. A stranger (Surprise! It's Dendar) invites you, "Help me and I'll help you."

Demon could look like this. From Scrap Princess.

In Conclusion 

As I said at the start, this is a fairly "normal" dungeon. 

• While the City of the Ancients is the centerpiece megadungeon of the setting, this is the Boss lair.
• Dendar has connections to most of the factions and is the driver behind several plots.
• Figuring out the lore will be crucial to eventually defeating the monster and I've seeded pieces of it all over the place on Thrustle Island.
• Unlike the City, where the challenge-level is all over the place, the Barrow will have a clear escalation as the party goes deeper. 
• Also unlike the City, the Barrow is finite and complete-able. 
• The lower levels are not done yet. I'll post them someday but it will probably be quite awhile before my players get there.