Battlemap
The Hollow King's Crypt
The dead remember the king, and the king remembers every living name.
The crypt lies beneath a collapsed hilltop chapel, its stone halls descending around a sealed royal tomb. The dead do not rest quietly here, and every chamber bears evidence that someone has recently disturbed the ancient wards.
Cold, stale air carries the smell of wet stone, candle grease, and old graves. Pale blue witchlight flickers in cracked sconces, while distant chains scrape, whispered prayers echo through the corridors, and the deeper chambers pulse with a slow subterranean heartbeat.
☠ Threat
King Veyr, the Hollow King, is a mummified warlord bound beneath the crypt. The broken shrine wards have restored his voice and some of his strength, allowing him to command corpses, drain warmth from the living, and whisper promises through the walls. He seeks the funerary nail beneath his throne, which would let him leave the crypt and raise the dead buried across the valley.
History
The crypt was raised three centuries ago by Queen Meredain, who feared her victorious husband would return from war changed by an unnatural pact. Royal masons built a prison disguised as a tomb, while priests divided the binding ritual among three shrines. The king died, rose, and was sealed below with his loyal guards and every witness to the ritual.
Encounter Table
CRA cluster of desiccated hands crawls along the walls, guided by whispers from the throne chamber.
A headless royal guard drags a broken spear and follows the scent of living blood.
A pale funeral moth swarm carries flakes of skin and old burial dust on its wings.
A veiled cult messenger carries orders written in the Hollow King's own blood.
Rumours & Whispers
A king is buried beneath the hill, and his crown can make any claimant ruler of the valley.
People who sleep near the ruined chapel wake with grave dirt beneath their fingernails.
The crypt's dead only attack those who enter without speaking the queen's name.
A hidden passage connects the royal tomb to the old chapel, but its door opens from the inside.
The village cemetery has begun gaining fresh graves with no bodies in them.
Quest Hooks
Quest giver: Mara Venn, a worried undertaker from the nearest village
Grave robbers entered the hill and never returned. Their families ask the characters to recover the missing expedition before the town's burial grounds are disturbed.
75 gp, three healing potions, and a family heirloom recovered from the crypt
Quest giver: Lord Edran Vale, an ambitious collector of ancient relics
A local noble wants the royal signet rumored to lie in the king's tomb, unaware that removing it may break one of the seals.
150 gp and a letter of patronage granting access to the noble's library
Quest giver: Sister Halwen, the last priest of the ruined chapel
The dead have begun speaking the names of living villagers. The characters must cleanse the shrines before the Hollow King completes his list.
A blessed weapon or holy focus, plus sanctuary at the chapel
Quest giver: Captain Orsik, a wounded watch officer who escaped the crypt
A rival cult intends to free King Veyr and use his army to conquer the valley. Their agents are already inside, posing as pilgrims and explorers.
250 gp from the valley council and formal recognition as defenders of the region
Corridor Notes
Thin lines of salt and powdered bone mark old warding circles, most of them scuffed or broken by recent movement.
Funeral bells hang from the ceiling at irregular intervals. Some ring without being touched whenever a living creature passes beneath them.
Water drips upward from the floor into the ceiling, vanishing among black roots that twitch when disturbed.
Names have been carved into the walls in dozens of different hands. The newest names belong to people who have not yet died.
Turn The Hollow King's Crypt into a sheet
A high-res, share-ready sheet you can post or print.