Skip to content
CharGen Icon
CreatePricing
Dungeons
Crypt · Medium · Medium

Count the Steps

The first thing you see is a lintel crowded with tally marks, and the last one is freshly cut.
Rooms
11
Foes
14, CR 1/4 to 4
Traps
1
Treasure
640 gp
1234567891011Entrance
Select a room on the plan to open it.

The party is in

1. The Tally Vestibule

Seen

Something wanders by

At a glance

The threat

The main danger is the dead keeper, an oath-bound warden who still believes the Vey family will return to claim their ancestors.

Wandering monsters (1d3)

  1. 1

    1d4× Cell counterCR 1/4

    When: Roll every 30 minutes, or when the party makes loud noise in rooms 1 through 4.A rattling skeleton in a prison sash follows the walls, tapping each cell door with its blade.
  2. 2

    Mourning shadeCR 1

    When: It appears when a character removes an object from a shrine without making an offering.A pale dead figure glides along the floor, leaving a trail of frost that fades after a minute.
  3. 3

    2× Bier bearersCR 1/2

    When: They are drawn toward the sound of the bell in or any combat lasting more than 3 rounds.A pair of skeletal attendants carry an empty bier between rooms, stopping to inspect anyone they meet.

Rooms

11
1

The Tally Vestibule

2 foestreasuresecret

What they see

Read aloud

A broad stone vestibule opens beneath a lintel carved with small counting marks, and four doors lead deeper into the crypt. Dust lies thick except for a fresh trail of bare footprints leading toward the eastern passages.

Features

  • Four doors connect to rooms 1, 2, 3, and 4.
  • The lintel bears 37 tally marks, though the stonework around it is much older.

What the GM knows

Monsters

2× Crypt skeletonsCR 1/4

Dry, gray skeletons wear cracked funerary sashes and clutch rusted short swords.Tactics. They rise when anyone crosses the center of the room and fight to block the doors to rooms 1 and 2.

Treasure

The Prisoner's Key18 sp

A brass key and 18 silver pieces wrapped in a funerary sash.
Room secrets · GM only

Notes

The footprints are a lure made by the keeper's magic; they always lead toward the most recently disturbed room. Characters who examine the lintel can tell that newer tally marks were cut over older ones.

3 doors: W (normal), S (normal), N (secret)

The place

What it is

Count the Steps is a buried family crypt whose upper chambers still bear the marks of funerary rites and confinement.

Atmosphere

Cold air carries the smell of wet limestone, old incense, and extinguished candles.

The threat

The main danger is the dead keeper, an oath-bound warden who still believes the Vey family will return to claim their ancestors.

History

The crypt was built by the Vey household after a winter fever emptied their valley, and its first purpose was to shelter the family dead from grave robbers.

Rumors

1d4
Roll a rumor

  1. 1A mason swears the crypt has more doors than the hill above it has stone.
  2. 2People say the bell rings only when someone lies about the dead.
  3. 3The old Vey family paid to have their prisoners buried as relatives, so their ghosts would not haunt the town.
  4. 4A cemetery tender claims that counting the steps down prevents the dead from following you back up.

Plot hooks

3
RescueThe Missing CrewA mason's crew vanished while repairing a sinkhole that opened over the crypt. Their foreman was last heard counting aloud, though the number changed each time.From: Beren, a mason with a broken wristReward: A deed to the repaired quarry and 120 gp
InvestigationA Name Struck OutA local family wants proof that their ancestor was not executed in the prison wing, as an old ledger suggests. The evidence lies among the records in , but the keeper guards the route to it.From: Ona Vey, a careful family solicitorReward: 150 gp and a signet ring that opens a family vault
Urgent threatThe Unfinished CountThe bell's distant toll has begun waking graves in the nearby cemetery. The party must reach and end its summons before the next midnight.From: Sella, a breathy-voiced cemetery tenderReward: A potion of greater healing and the town's gratitude

Corridors

3

  • Passage between and

    A line of shallow footprints appears in the dust, all walking toward the boss chamber; none return.

  • Passage outside

    Iron rings set into the wall hold scraps of prayer cloth, each marked with a prisoner number.

  • Passage between and

    A hairline crack exhales warm air that smells of candle smoke. It widens slightly whenever the bell in sounds.

Media

0 images

No images yet.

Visual sheet

Turn Count the Steps into a sheet

A high-res, share-ready sheet you can post or print.