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Dungeons
Crypt · Medium · Level 3 · Hard

Crypt of Verdanthor

Green light pulses through the dragon's carved eyes, and the floor answers with a faint, steady tick.
Rooms
12
Foes
8, CR 1/4 to 3
Traps
11
Treasure
367 gp
123456789101112Entrance
Select a room on the plan to open it.

The party is in

1. Scale-Gate Vestibule

Seen

Something wanders by

At a glance

The threat

An evil warlock is siphoning emerald magic from Verdanthor's bones in the final chamber, feeding it into a living mutation that thrashes against its restraints.

Wandering monsters (1d3)

  1. 1

    Emerald-boned skeletonCR 1/4

    When: A loud noise in a corridor or an hour spent exploring the crypt draws it from a nearby hall.A skeletal attendant with crystal splinters in its ribs patrols the passages, following the low hum toward room 11.
  2. 2

    Emerald shell beetleCR 1/2

    When: A creature carries exposed magic or disturbs one of the glowing crystal seams.A beetle with a translucent green shell clicks across the walls and drops on anything that passes beneath it.
  3. 3

    2× Crystal-marked zombiesCR 1/4

    When: The party triggers a trap or leaves a body unattended in the corridors.A pair of animated grave robbers shuffle together, their packs clattering with stones and broken tools.

Rooms

12
1

Scale-Gate Vestibule

treasuresecret

What they see

Read aloud

A low stone lintel opens into a square antechamber, its floor slick with seepage and scattered with flakes of green crystal. Five doors break the walls, and a faint tapping comes from several directions at once.

Features

  • A relief of Verdanthor coils above the entrance, its eyes filled with dull green glass.
  • The five doors bear different cuts of the same scale pattern.

What the GM knows

Treasure

Burial coins18 gp

A small funerary offering wrapped in oilcloth beneath the cracked entrance step.
Room secrets · GM only

Notes

This room gives the party access to the dungeon's branches. The tapping grows louder whenever someone casts a spell, foreshadowing the unstable magic below.

4 doors: S (normal), N (normal), W (normal), E (normal)

The place

What it is

The Crypt of Verdanthor descends beneath a moss-covered hill, its old burial halls warped by emerald magic leaking from the dragon's bones.

Atmosphere

Cold damp presses against the skin, cut by sudden pockets of dry heat where emerald light crawls over the stone.

The threat

An evil warlock is siphoning emerald magic from Verdanthor's bones in the final chamber, feeding it into a living mutation that thrashes against its restraints.

History

Verdanthor, an ancient emerald dragon, was laid to rest beneath this hill by a circle of stonewrights and druids who feared what would happen if its magic escaped.

Rumors

1d4
Roll a rumor

  1. 1A spring beneath the hill runs uphill after sunset, and the water leaves a green stain on the tongue.
  2. 2The dead in the old crypt are not restless, they are being pulled toward something deeper.
  3. 3A candle shrine below the hill lights itself for anyone who remembers the names of the buried.
  4. 4A peddler swears he heard a dragon speaking through the stones, though no dragon has lived in these lands for generations.

Plot hooks

3
InvestigationScales in the WellA village well has begun growing translucent green scales along its inner stones. The afflicted water comes from a spring beneath the hill, and the villagers need someone to stop the source before the sickness spreads.From: Mbeti, a village well-keeper whose hands have begun to shine faintly green.Reward: A purse of 75 gp and a healer's kit stocked with rare antitoxins.
RecoveryThe Stolen Burial RecordA scholar asks the party to recover the funerary plaque from room 9 before the warlock can destroy evidence of the dragon's burial rites.From: Tazik, a terse antiquarian who has spent years tracing the crypt's scattered inscriptions.Reward: A spell scroll of lesser restoration and 100 gp.
RescueA Voice BelowA frightened voice has been heard beneath the hill, calling from behind the sealed door. It belongs to no ghost, but to the mutation briefly echoing the memories it absorbs from the bones.From: Sesh, a breathy candle-maker who heard the voice while gathering wax-moss near the entrance.Reward: A carved emerald scale worth 150 gp, if the party brings it back intact.

Corridors

3

  • Between rooms 1 and 5

    Thin green veins run through the mortar, brightening whenever magic is used nearby. A character who touches them feels a faint pulse, like a heartbeat through cold stone.

  • Passage from room 0 to room 2

    A shallow gutter carries clear water uphill toward room 2. Leaves caught in it turn black, then crumble to dust within minutes.

  • Approach to room 11

    The walls are carved with dragon scales, but several have swollen into translucent knobs that whisper when brushed.

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