Necropolis, week 4: The Sump

22: Imperial Bridge
    A bridge of human bones, skulls clustered into posts on either end.
Creaky but stable.
    (!) Actually a centipede-like undead construct with a mass of skulls for both ‘head’ and ‘tail’. Dormant until the mausoleum is breached.

23: Imperial Mausoleum (exterior)
    Atop the spiral stair, at the very centre of the great cavern. Ringed by marble pillars shedding flakes of red paint and gold leaf; barred by bronze doors shaped like a mass of snarling gods; heaped with glazed urns and lacquered chests.
    (?) 9 lacquered chests/urns, each locked, with a 50% chance of rare item in each (silver coins, incense, silk, etc.), or just dust and rot. The 10th is a pot containing stardust.
    (?) Doors are locked from the outside with a heavy bronze latch.

24: Imperial Mausoleum (interior)
    Walls a forest scene in jet and gold leaf; dome a night sky of lapis lazuli studded with diamond stars. Floor of crimson marble littered with a score of skeletons, hands bound with rotting silk rope. Golden sarcophagus in the shape of a giant man with imperial robes, fillet and rod.
    (!) Lifting the weight of the casket lid makes something go ‘clunk’ below, causing a pot of stardust to fall from a hole in the ceiling.
    (!) The blackened, shrivelled corpse of the godly imperial sorcerer is undead, but held in place by iron pins inscribed with runes of binding and driven through bone and stone. He will bargain, wheedle, threaten, and beg for freedom.
    (?) The ceiling is at least 15 feet high and the gems will not come loose without some serious prying, but if the PCs do find some way of getting them down, they can grab 1d6x10 coins’ worth of gemstones per hour of work, -1 per additional hour.


New Area: West Quarter/The Sump

25: Overgrown Passage
    Dim light from bioluminescent slugs.
    A dank, damp tunnel, crowded with mad fungal growths and glowing molluscs.
    (!) Harmless, but difficult terrain for humans unless the fungi are cleared out.

26: Damp Tomb
    A beehive tomb with a portal overlooking the sump – water seeps in and puddles in the floor. The sarcophagus lid is shaped like a silk-ensconced noble with mask and fan.
    (!) The dart trap is broken; the casket is empty but for a suspicious, greasy puddle… A corrosive ooze.
    (??) The lid is ever so slightly ajar.

27: The Sump
    The floor of the great cavern. Black silty water up to your waist. Bone and stone shift underfoot.
    (!) Disturbing the water raises the alarm level. Skeletons rising from the water and the infant god rising from the shrine in the water roads are both options.
    (!) Drinking the water leads to parasite infection unless boiled.
    (!?) There is a short stair caved under the water, descending down into an underwater hall in the water roads. Under illumination, coins glitter at its base.
    (?) The stair to the imperial mausoleum starts here, but its base has crumbled away.

28: Velvet Worm Nest
    Still air. A reek of rot, and something musky. The floor is sticky with traces of acrid slime. A dark and writhing mass blocks the passage ahead.
    (!) Lair of the velvet worms, each 2-3 metres long, entangled in a sleeping mass that blocks the way.