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Crypt · Medium · Medium

The Rat Crypt

A line of white rats disappears beneath the chapel stair, leaving tiny tracks through the dust.
Rooms
15
Foes
17, CR 1/8 to 3
Traps
4
Treasure
533 gp
123456789101112131415Entrance
Select a room on the plan to open it.

The party is in

1. Collapsed Vestibule

Seen

Something wanders by

At a glance

The threat

Keeper Hadrik, now a wight bound to his iron keys, believes every living intruder is an escaped prisoner.

Wandering monsters (1d3)

  1. 1

    2d4× Grave ratsCR 1/4

    When: They emerge when the party makes loud noise or spills food in the corridors; they flee if cornered by fire or bright light.A pair of pale rats with scraps of funeral cloth caught around their bodies.
  2. 2

    1d3× Patrol skeletonCR 1/2

    When: It approaches when the bell rings or when a door is forced, following the nearest intruder's tracks.A skeletal guard patrols with a rusted spear and a key ring that holds no useful keys.
  3. 3

    Bone heapCR 1

    When: It gathers near a party that spends ten minutes in one corridor or disturbs multiple graves.A drifting cluster of bones and burial cloth, pulled along by the bell's vibration.

Rooms

15
1

Collapsed Vestibule

2 foestreasuresecret

What they see

Read aloud

A square vestibule stands beneath a collapsed stair, with a cracked family crest above a pair of iron-bound doors. Dust lies thick except for small rat tracks leading toward the library and the prison corridor.

Features

  • Collapsed stair to the surface
  • Crest of a three-keyed hand carved above the inner arch
  • A cold draft seeps from the eastern secret door

What the GM knows

Monsters

2× Grave ratCR 1/8

Pale grave rats with muddy paws and scraps of burial linen caught in their teeth.Tactics. They swarm an isolated target, then flee through cracks if one is killed.

Treasure

Chapel token5 gp

A brass token stamped with a hand holding three keys; it is worth little but fits a hidden catch in the shrine.
Room secrets · GM only

Notes

The normal western and southern doors lead to rooms 1 and 3; the secret eastern door leads to room 2. A search of the crest reveals three small keyholes, hinting at the keeper's master key.

5 doors: W (normal), S (normal), N (locked), E (normal), N (normal)

The place

What it is

The Rat Crypt is a compact burial complex built beneath a ruined chapel, its family vaults and prison cells still sealed by stubborn iron doors.

Atmosphere

Cold air carries the smell of wet limestone, old wax, and disturbed earth.

The threat

Keeper Hadrik, now a wight bound to his iron keys, believes every living intruder is an escaped prisoner.

History

The crypt was built by the Vell family beneath their chapel to keep generations of remains close to their ancestral altar.

Rumors

1d4
Roll a rumor

  1. 1The chapel's old bell rings underground on moonless nights, though no bell tower remains.
  2. 2White rats have been seen carrying bits of gold thread from the ruined chapel to the village drains.
  3. 3A family register was stolen from the old crypt, and its pages name people the local histories call criminals.
  4. 4The dead in the Vell tombs do not rise unless someone touches the black candles.

Plot hooks

3
RecoveryThe Ring Below the ChapelA local family asks the party to recover a signet ring from their ancestor's tomb before grave robbers sell it. The ring lies near the lower vault, where the keeper's patrols are thickest.From: A worried descendant of the Vell familyReward: A modest purse and the family's ancestral signet, which can secure introductions to local officials.
RescueThe Gravedigger's TrailA missing gravedigger was last seen following a trail of white rats into the ruined chapel. The party finds evidence that the keeper's prisoners were wrongly condemned and may still be trapped below.From: A gravedigger's foremanReward: Payment, a map of the old chapel grounds, and the gratitude of the missing worker's family.
ExterminationSilence the BellA priest wants the cracked funerary bell silenced before its call draws more dead from nearby graves. The bell's maker's mark points to the crypt's lowest rooms.From: A village priestReward: A healing draught and a small consecrated charm against undead.

Corridors

4

  • Between rooms 1 and 4

    A line of shallow boot prints crosses the dust, then stops at a blank wall; the prints belong to a skeleton that patrols through stone.

  • Outside room 2

    Small white rats gather around a cracked funerary urn and flee when anyone speaks above a whisper.

  • Between rooms 4 and 10

    Iron rings set into the wall hold snapped lengths of chain. One bears fresh scratches from the far side of the stone.

  • Near the secret entrance to room 14

    A thin seam in the masonry leaks warm air that smells of beeswax and grave soil.

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