Bury the Dead or Stay in the Clearing
Bury the Dead or Stay in the Clearing
Read Aloud
The party spills from a green tear in the air and lands among wet grass, loose stones, and the sharp smell of turned earth. A burial mound crouches beneath the trees, while a fresh corpse pit gapes nearby, its dirt piled beside the dead. The portal snaps shut behind you, and somewhere under that earth you hear the hum of the next portal.
The Scene
NEUTRALMoral dilemma and supernatural escapeBase DC 13Stakes The party can escape quickly by digging, but leaving the dead exposed denies them the grave's boon and may awaken what was sealed beneath the first mound.
30 to 45 minutes
The unseen keeper of the clearing wants the remaining corpses buried and the disturbed grave restored before allowing a safe passage.
The party can leave by digging, but the unseen keeper offers a stronger reward for treating the dead with care. Digging the first mound risks exposing the cursed item and weakening the clearing's ward.
- Promise to bury every corpse before leaving.
- Refuse the boon and uncover the exit by force.
- Dig into the first mound to expose the cursed item.
- Use respectful words, prayers, or funeral rites to reduce the grave's resistance.
- Assign characters to dig, carry bodies, search the mound, or speak to the unseen keeper.
- Ask who the dead were and why they were left exposed.
- Offer a name, prayer, token, or personal memory for the dead.
- Test the forest loop, then return when escape proves impossible.
- The unseen voice becomes warmer when the party handles the dead gently.
- It grows terse when the party kicks bodies aside or treats the grave as a puzzle.
- It warns the party once before the first mound is opened.
- It grants the boon immediately when the final corpse is covered and the party speaks a farewell.
