Adventures in the Forgotten Realms: A Verdant Tomb

Part 1: Riverside

The adventure begins when the adventurers reach the area near the sepulcher, about 40 miles east of the village of Secomber. There the south branch of the Delimbiyr (sometimes called Hark River) runs through reedy marshlands along the feet of cliffs and steep hills that rise to form the High Moors' plateau.

The place they seek is a shrine and once-beautiful mausoleum built by a few wealthy families from Secomber. It is set into a cliff on the south side of the river. Designed to be rustic and remote, the site has fallen into severe disrepair as a result of its distance from Secomber. Many of the families whose ancestors were interred here have since taken their wealth to Waterdeep and never returned. After visitors stopped arriving to remember those buried here, no one came to combat the weather and the waters as they took their toll.

Only one of the participating families stayed in Secomber but fell on hard times decades ago and gradually came to forget their forebears. Their family name was Everlake. The last of them died of old age within the past twenty years.

The grassy ground rises up gradually from the riverbank to where the sepulcher is built into the base of a scrabbly 20-foot cliff. Bits of red granite jut from the cliff and the ground, revealed over long years by the river and the rain. Across the river, wide meadows and wild hedges feed the local sheep.

Two trolls stalk the marsh on the sepulcher's side of the river. They're twin brothers, clad in rough leather and raw sheep's wool. They hunt along the riverbank at this time of year, looking for strays from nearby flocks. They attempt to stay out of sight and avoid adventurers, but trespassers who seem especially vulnerable or those who are laden with supplies and treasure stir the trolls' greed, inspiring them to ambush the party.

Five will-o'-wisps haunt the sepulcher yard, day or night. They are prideful, spiteful things eager to lead living creatures near the waters of the sunken yard or into the clutches of other nearby monsters. Yet each will-o'-wisp is loath to venture inside the sepulcher, which they consider the territory of other, more limited undead. The wisps take pride in moving about outdoors, by sunlight or moonlight. They delight in making other encounters more difficult but never venture deeper into the structure than area 4.

Note that much of the muddy, soaked ground surrounding the sepulcher may be 3. The sepulcher grounds and the crypts within are shown in map 1.

[image: Map 1]