Hi everyone, and welcome back to the Finder’s Archives.
In this column, we take some of the lands from Magic: The Gathering and turn them into something you can use for your fantasy games.
The stats given in each entry assumes that you’re using Pathfinder 2 or 5e for your games, but they can easily be converted over into any fantasy system. This time we bring out the dead at the Crypt of the Eternals.
Crypt of the Eternals
The Crypt of the Eternals lies deep underground in an area only accessible by the Faithful. Their faith lies with their ancestors. Ancestors that they’re able to meet with and talk to, simply by heading to their most sacred sites. While interred here, the dead become undead, but while they remain within the crypt they’re without the hunger that they might otherwise feel as undead creatures, and even those that would normally lose their minds and souls (like skeletons and zombies) retain their faculties in death.
In this manner, the Faithful hope they’ll one day join the Eternals, and be one with their “gods”. But, the Eternals themselves are restless, some having been stuck here for millennia. And their anger grows daily and with each exposure to the outside world, showing how it has moved on without them.
Lay of the Land
The Crypt of the Eternals is hidden from outsiders, and not just by the fact that it lies almost 2 miles underground. Instead, it is hidden by the fact that those of the Faithful who know of it, never speak of it outside the tunnels leading to the Crypt itself. They refer to it as the “Blessed Afterlife” and “There”. Only once someone has been fully indoctrinated into the cult, a process that takes at least a decade, will they be allowed to approach the Crypt and see the wonders of it.
The Crypt itself is an enormous edifice, created long ago by unknown hands (though it is theoretically possible that the very oldest of the Eternals know who built it, they haven’t said) out of a magic-rich, dark stone. It is carved into the likeness of a huge cathedral, with more detail added for every corpse interred within. The details are added by undead stonemasons, who have had centuries to perfect their craft. They’re also the ones who handle the expansion of the Crypt, as it is ever-growing.
When it grows, the Crypt grows in leaps and bounds — none of the living have ever seen any construction, but have simply observed it appear out of nowhere between visits. The undead themselves claim that they construct it normally, from stone that seems never-ending at the core of the crypt.
Dangers
Walking to the Crypt, the worst you’ll face are the Faithful who’ll firmly tell you to leave but will take no hostile action beyond that. There are the normal dangers of traveling through the bowels of the world as well, such as drow and duergar patrols, but they are rare in the region.
Once you arrive at the crypt, all bets are off. The Crypt of the Eternal is filled with undead, many of whom are very powerful. And while they might not have the hunger that drives so many of their kin outside the Crypts, they are by no means “good”.
Furthermore, there are plans afoot within the Crypt on how to expand their empire, as the eldest and smartest among them have figured out how to expand the crypt to encompass an entire country, and perhaps beyond. So now, the lowly zombies and skeletons are unwitting pawns (though some might suspect) in a plot to take over the kingdom.
And that concludes our visit. See you back next time. 😊
Kim Frandsen
Latest posts by Kim Frandsen (see all)
- Finder’s Archive – Crypt of the Eternals - June 2, 2023
