There are potential dangers to being an adventurer – something every adventurer knows. However, the danger extends beyond immediate threats of harm and evil to unforeseen consequences. Such as what can happen if adventurers are sloppy when they go on a spate of grave robbing…
Encounter Level 14
Having reached the paragon tier, the party has developed a reputation and a list of contacts during their careers. One such contact, a respected cleric or paladin, hires the PCs to transport the remains of a dead paladin half-orc to his home tribe, a community of formally non-evil orcs dwelling in the moors. When they arrive, undead orcs attack.
Setup
- 1 Orc Bog Mummy Chieftain
- 4 Orc Bog Mummy Warriors
- 8 Corrupted Orc Corpse
What People Know
A character knows the following information about the dead half-orc with a successful History of Streetwise skill check.
- DC 14: The dead half-orc the party carries was named Gristhorpe and he left his tribe of orcs, eventually became a paladin and spent his life defending the realm in service to a deity of light.
- DC 16: Gristhorpe died in combat about a week ago. The tribe he came from, located in a moor, has produced a number of adventuring orcs and half-orcs.
- DC 18: Gristhorpe retired from adventuring after he and a cleric named Carnac defeated the old, evil orcs that led this tribe. Over the last 20 years the two men worked to lead the tribe away from its evil deities. They have been succeeding.
- DC 20: Carnac is a cleric of Gristhorpe’s patron diety and the two were close friends while the paladin lived and Carnac currently lives with the tribe. The cleric serves as the tribe’s spiritual leader and the efforts to lead the tribe from evil seem to be working.
When the adventurers approach the tribe’s area, read the italicized text:
Hills and the tops of grim standing stones rise above the fog and the cold, dank moor.
Features of the Area
The region this orc tribe calls home is a series of flinty hills that rise above a moorland, all of which is both difficult terrain and lightly obscured terrain. The region is treeless, but high weeds grow from the moor. Generations ago, the tribe moved into the houses of a village – scattered across the tops of the hills – humans abandoned. The tribe also occupies a series of mine tunnels cut into the hills.
Surrounding one of the hills is a series of menhirs, each of which marks the grave of someone important to the orc tribe, such as a chieftain, a cleric, a great and terrible warrior or someone similar. The bones of other orcs, and the bones of orc victims from the old days, are scatted in the moorland between the flinty hills. Few orcs were lucky enough to receive shallow graves.
Perception Check
DC 14: The low winds pushing the fog banks across the moor carry the foul stench of rotting flesh. A fog bank moves, revealing several orcs corpses standing on the moor. The walking dead move towards you and attack.
DC 16: Further away, other animated orc corpses are pushing over one of the menhirs – the large standing stones – that circle the base of the hill. There seem to be two kinds of animated orc corpses, one with more force and power than the other.
DC 18: Pushing the menhir over reveals a festering hole in the earth where the hill meets the moor. Another animated orc corpses pulls itself from the this hole.
Religion Check
DC 15: Something has unleashed undead orcs on the area. Among the undead are Corrupted Orc Corpse , orc guardian mummies and one mummy lord.
DC 18: An orc mummy champion was apparently interred under the menhir and with the removal of the stone, it is now crawling out of its grave.
Battles with the Undead
The undead will attack the adventurers and using a combination of ranged and melee attacks attempt kill the party but will settle for driving them away.
Orc Bog Mummy Chieftain Level 14 Elite Controller (Leader)
Medium natural humanoid (undead) XP 2,000
Initiative +6
Senses Perception +3; Darkvision
HP 64; Bloodied 32; see also warrior’s surge and death strike Regeneration 10 (if the Orc Bog Mummy warrior takes radiant damage, regeneration doesn’t function on its next turn)
AC 96; Fortitude 21,
Reflex 16, Will 21
Immune disease, poison Resist 10 necrotic at 11th level
Speed 8 (swamp walk), (10 while charging)
Traits
Despair (Fear)
Aura 5
Enemies within the aura take a –2 penalty to attack rolls against the mummy guardian.
[C] Mummy’s Curse (when reduced to 0 hit points) • Disease
Close burst 10, targets enemies
Attack: +15 vs. Will
Target contracts level 13 mummy rot (see below).
[A] Wrath of Dire Deity
Aura 10
Orcs in the aura may use death strike (see below).
Unholy Aid (immediate interrupt, when the mummy lord suffers an effect that a save may end; recharge on a roll of 6)
The mummy lord automatically saves against the triggering effect.
Shadow Walk
On the Orc Bog Mummy chieftain’s turn, if it moves at least 3 squares away from where it started its turn, the Orc Bog Mummy chieftain gains concealment until the end of its next turn.
Standard Actions
[M] Spear (Weapon) • At-Will
Attack: +18 vs. AC
1d8 + 3 damage
[M] Warrior’s Surge (Healing, Weapon) • Encounter
Orc Bog Mummy chieftain makes a melee basic attack and regains 16 hit points, usable only while Bloodied encounter
[R] Eye of Wrath (Fear) • At-Will
Ranged 5
Attack: +8 vs. Will
Target takes a –4 penalty to AC (save ends).
[R] Swift Arm of Destruction (Healing) • Recharge on a roll of 5 or 6
Ranged 5
One orc within range makes a melee basic attack (as a free action) and regains 15 hit points on a hit or 5 hit points on a miss.
[A] Chaos Hammer (Force) • Encounter
Area burst 1 within 10
Attack: +8 vs. Reflex
2d6 + 3 force damage and the target is knocked prone.
Miss: Half damage and the target is not knocked prone.
[M] Awe Strike (Fear, Weapon) • Encounter
Requires spear
Attack: +15 vs. Will
1d8 + 9 damage and the target is immobilized, save ends.
[R] Plague of Doom (Necrotic) • Encounter
Ranged 10
Attack: +15 vs. Fortitude
3d8 + 9 necrotic damage, and the target takes a –2 penalty to all defenses until the end of the mummy lord’s next turn.
Alignment Chaotic evil Languages Common, Giant
Skills Endurance +10, Intimidate +10, Religion +7
Str 17 (+5) Dex 14 (+4) Wis 12 (+3)
Con 16 (+5) Int 12 (+2) Cha 17 (+5)
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Orc Bog Mummy Warrior Level 10 Brute Minion
Medium natural humanoid (undead) XP 125
Initiative +6
Senses Perception +10; darkvision
HP 108; Bloodied 54
Regeneration 10 (if the Orc Bog Mummy warrior takes radiant damage, regeneration doesn’t function on its next turn)
AC 20; Fortitude 18, Reflex 16, Will 17; see also despair above
Immune disease, poison; Resist 5 necrotic; Strong>Vulnerable 5 fire
Speed 5
Traits
Despair (Fear)
Aura 5
Enemies within the aura take a –2 penalty to attack rolls against the mummy guardian.
[M] Death Strike (Immediate interrupt, when reduced to 0 hit points)
Orc Bog Mummy warrior makes a melee basic attack.
[R] Eye of Wrath (minor; at-will) • Fear
Ranged 5
Attack:+8 vs. Will
Target takes a –4 penalty to AC (save ends).
Standard Actions
[M] Battleaxe (Weapon) • At-Will
Attack:+14 vs. AC
6 damage.
[M] Rotting Slam (Disease, Necrotic) • At-Will
Attack:+11 vs. AC
2d8 + 3 necrotic damage and the target contracts level 8 mummy rot (see Monster Manual).
Warrior’s Surge (Healing, Weapon) • Encounter
Orc Bog Mummy warrior makes a melee basic attack and regains 16 hit points, usable only while Bloodied
[R] Swift Arm of Destruction (Healing) • Recharge on a roll of 5 or 6
Ranged 5
One Orc Bog Mummy warrior within range makes a melee basic attack (as a free action) and regains 15 hit points on a hit or 5 hit points on a miss.
Alignment Unaligned Languages Common
Str 16 (+7) Dex 14 (+6) Wis 12 (+5)
Con 18 (+8) Int 6 (+2) Cha 16 (+7)
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Corrupted Orc Corpse Level 4 Artillery Minion
Medium natural animate (undead) XP 44
Initiative +3 Senses Perception +3; darkvision
HP 46; Bloodied 23; see also death burst
Regeneration 5 (if the corruption corpse takes radiant damage, regeneration doesn’t function on its next turn)
AC 17; Fortitude 16, Reflex 14, Will 14
Immune disease, poison; Resist 10 necrotic; Vulnerable 5 radiant
Speed 4
Traits
[M] Death Burst (Necrotic) • Immediate interrupt, when reduced to 0 hit points)
The corruption remain explodes. Close burst 1; +7 vs. Fortitude; 2d6 + 3 necrotic damage.
Grave Stench
Aura 1
Living enemies in the aura take a –5 penalty to attack rolls.
Standard Actions
[M] Slam • At-Will
Attack: +8 vs. AC
1d6 + 3 damage.
[M] Mote of Corruption Necrotic • At-Will
Ranged 10
Attack: +7 vs. Reflex
2d6 + 3 necrotic damage and the target is weakened (save ends), Corrupted Orc Corpse hurls a glob of necrotic filth.
Alignment Unaligned Languages —
Str 16 (+5) Dex 13 (+3) Wis 12 (+3)
Con 16 (+5) Int 4 (–1) Cha 3 (–2)
Tactics and Strategies
The vile mummy orc chieftain leads the undead in the attack against the PCs, targeting any half-orcs, half-elves, elves or eldarin in the party first. All the undead behave as described in the Monster Manual, except they use the drifting fog banks for cover and will not pursue the PCs if they flee away from the orc graveyard. The Orc Bog Mummy Chieftain also drags a bound prisoner – the cleric Carnac – behind him.
The Survivors’ Story
The PCs learn this only if they successfully rescue Carnac. Assuming he survives, he is desolate.
Who are you? I’m Carnac. I was the priest of (insert the name of a good deity appropriate to the campaign) and was serving this orc tribe.
What did you do here? I worked with the orcs here, I lead them away from evil and into the light. And it’s all fallen apart now.
What were those things? The undead. Once the graves were defiled, they began crawling out of the wet ground. First was the mummified corpse of an old chief, I think. Then it pushed over other menhirs and others mummies crawled out. The zombies pulled themselves out of the moor.
What happened here? Some adventurers came and robbed the graves and stole the bones of some old and horrible orcs, orcs who once lead this tribe. When the adventurers defiled the graves, some of the old orcs came back as undead… Anyway, the adventurers were stealing remains and bones and I don’t think they expected the undead. Idiots.
What happens next? These undead will either wipe out the tribe and start raiding and destroying the local settlements, or drive the tribe to do that. Either way, it’s just going to be misery and death for a while now. We worked so hard, and now it’s ruined.
