Battlemap
Hollow Reed Crypt
The dead were buried deep, but greed dug deeper.
This is a small but dangerous burial crypt built beneath a ruined shrine, now half-collapsed and occupied by goblins and their marsh-dwelling allies. The upper chambers are tight, trapped, and watchful, while the deeper rooms hide a mean little warlord who has turned the dead into a barricade.
Cold damp air clings to the stone, carrying the stink of mold, old incense, and disturbed grave dust. Faint water drips echo through the halls, lantern light seems swallowed by the dark, and every room feels just a little too tight, as if the crypt itself is listening.
☠ Threat
A goblin boss named Grik Slate-Crown now rules the crypt from the central shrine chamber, propped up by an aldani brute who knows the old water routes and hidden doors. They have begun breaking seals, plundering burial goods, and feeding prisoners to the lower traps, hoping to awaken whatever was truly entombed here.
History
Long ago, marsh priests cut these chambers into a limestone hill to bury victims of a fever that swept the nearby villages. When the shrine fell into ruin, goblins from the reeds tunneled in through cracks and culverts, then later bargained with a cunning aldani scavenger who taught them how to exploit the crypt's old wards and flooded passages.
Encounter Table
CRA lone goblin scavenger dragging a sack of nails, coins, and old bone charms.
A marsh hunter with a spear and shell armor, moving silently through wet passages.
A skittish goblin messenger carrying alarm cords and a crude whistle.
A bone-picking crypt rat as large as a housecat, its muzzle stained with grave mold.
Rumours & Whispers
The crypt was once a saint's burial place, but the saint never rested easy and the walls still sweat at night.
Goblins in the marsh are paying silver for old grave keys and funeral rings.
Something in the lower halls answers prayers in a voice that sounds like water in a skull.
Aldani have been seen carrying stolen bones back into the reeds after moonset.
Anyone who opens the locked doors without the right words is said to wake the dead in the walls.
Quest Hooks
Quest giver: Elda Bracken, village elder
A village elder wants the party to recover a funeral ring stolen from the crypt before the dead are dishonored further.
25 gp and a blessed token that grants advantage on one saving throw against fear
Quest giver: Tovin Marr, anxious hunter
A hunter's child vanished near the marsh and was last seen following goblin tracks toward the old shrine.
15 gp, a bundle of healing herbs, and a favor from the family
Quest giver: Sister Halven, itinerant priest
The local priest believes the wards beneath the crypt are failing and asks the party to seal them before the dead stir.
30 gp and a scroll of protection from evil and good
Corridor Notes
Shallow wall niches hold cracked candles that sometimes relight with a blue flame when the party passes.
Low sections of corridor are flooded with ankle-deep black water that hides loose stones and old bones.
Rusted funeral bells hang from iron hooks, chiming softly when doors open nearby.
A narrow drain lined with teeth-like stones runs along the base of several halls, carrying away blood and runoff toward the deeper crypt.
Turn Hollow Reed Crypt into a sheet
A high-res, share-ready sheet you can post or print.