Quest Line · Original Adventure · Old-School Essentials
Levels 2-3 · Dungeon
The village gallows stands atop Crow's Hill, where criminals have swung for three centuries. After last week's storm, the earth cracked open, revealing a shaft descending into worked stone chambers. The village reeve offers coin to investigate, but the real treasure lies in stopping the Counting Noose—an enchanted rope that animates the dead with each knot tied in its length. Already, hanged criminals stir in their unmarked graves.
Players should create characters comfortable with dungeon delving and moral ambiguity—not every corpse below was guilty. The adventure features undead, execution imagery, and themes of unjust punishment. The dungeon contains three small levels connected vertically, with opportunities for negotiation, combat, and problem-solving. Characters should have rope, light sources, and at least one way to turn or fight undead.
Hook 1: Official Request — Reeve Marlow posts a bounty of 50 gp per party member to investigate the sinkhole. Two village men descended yesterday and haven't returned. She provides basic information: the hill has been a gallows for generations, built atop older ruins.
Hook 2: Personal Connection — One PC's ancestor was hanged here for debt twenty years ago. They've dreamed of rope and counting since the collapse, seeing visions of their relative struggling below ground, unable to rest.
Hook 3: Grave Stirring — Fresh dirt near the hill's base is disturbed. A hanged thief from six months ago clawed halfway out before collapsing, truly dead. The corpse clutches a gold ring (20 gp value) in one skeletal hand—and the村民 say more dead are stirring.
Crow's Hill rises thirty feet above the village, crowned by weathered gallows. The platform stands intact, but the earth behind it has collapsed into a steep shaft descending twenty feet. Handprints in the mud show where the two missing villagers entered.
The shaft opens into a worked stone chamber carved from bedrock. Water damage has destroyed most furnishings, but iron rings line the walls. This was a debtor's prison from the old kingdom—criminals worked their sentences here before the practice changed to hanging.
Carved above the north archway: "LABOR UNTO FREEDOM." The passage slopes downward. Scratched recently below in charcoal: "Deeper—we hear singing—Tam & Joss."
Exploration Notes:
Encounter — Animated Corpse: One of the missing villagers, Tam, stumbles back up the corridor. A noose is tied around his broken neck, the rope trailing behind him into darkness. He's been dead for hours but walks stiffly forward, arms outstretched.
Tam's Corpse — AC 9 (no armor), HD 1, hp 4, MV 60', #AT 1 throttle, D 1d4+strangle, SV F1, ML 12. If the noose around his neck is cut, he collapses permanently. He pursues relentlessly but is slow and clumsy.
The corridor opens into a large chamber with a low ceiling supported by pillars. Stone workbenches line the walls, covered with the tools of execution: coiled ropes, iron maidens (rusted empty), branding irons, and a chopping block stained black with age.
The Rope-Keeper sits in the center on a three-legged stool, an ancient corpse in a leather hood. Its skeletal hands work methodically, tying knots in a 30-foot rope. Nine knots are already tied. With each knot completed, a distant rumble echoes through the barrow—another grave opening above.
The Rope-Keeper won't attack unless the rope is threatened. It will rasp answers in a dead voice:
The Choice:
The Rope-Keeper (Undead Guardian) — AC 7 (leather remnants), HD 3, hp 12, MV 30', #AT 1 rope garrotte, D 1d6+auto-grapple, SV F3, ML 12. The counting rope is AC 5 (as chain), requires 8 hp damage to sever.
Workshop Treasures:
A stairwell descends from the chamber's west side, carved roughly into the rock.
The lowest chamber is a natural cavern expanded into a crypt. Ten alcoves carved into the walls hold skeletal remains in chains—the original debtors, imprisoned here and forgotten. Rusted tools lie scattered: pickaxes, chisels, buckets. They died working, trying to carve their way to freedom.
If the Rope-Keeper finished its work or was destroyed, nine animated corpses crowd this room, mindless and grasping. They part to reveal the tenth alcove, where The Master waits—an ancient merchant-lord who enslaved debtors, was eventually executed for his cruelty, and buried here with his "property."
The Master wears rotted finery and an iron crown (40 gp). He is more aware than the others, empowered by resentment and the magic of unpaid debts.
The Master (Greater Undead) — AC 6 (unholy resilience), HD 4, hp 18, MV 40', #AT 1 touch, D 1d8+chill (Fort save DC 14 or lose 1d4 Strength for 1 hour), SV F4, ML 11. Turned as Wight. If reduced to 0 hp, collapses to bones unless the iron crown is removed and destroyed.
Ending 1 — The Debt Paid: If the players negotiated or allowed the Rope-Keeper to complete its work, the undead collapse peacefully. The Master's voice whispers: "The ledger... balanced..." The iron crown can be taken without consequence. Joss's fresh corpse holds a silver locket (15 gp).
Ending 2 — Destruction: If the rope was cut or the Rope-Keeper destroyed, the nine lesser undead must be fought or turned. The Master fights desperately, screaming about debts owed. When defeated, the alcoves collapse, sealing the crypt. The party must scramble up the stairs before being trapped (DC 12 Dex check or take 1d6 falling rock damage).
Ending 3 — The Guardian's Bargain: If someone volunteers to remain as guardian (or the party leaves a worthy offering of treasure/magic items totaling 100+ gp value), the undead become dormant but not destroyed. The volunteer must stay one full day and night, experiencing visions of the debtors' suffering, before being released. They gain permanent +1 to saves against fear but are haunted by rope-creaking sounds in quiet moments.
Reeve Marlow — Middle-aged village leader with graying hair and practical demeanor. Wants the disturbance ended quickly and quietly to avoid panic.
Tam & Joss — Two curious farmhands who explored the barrow for adventure and profit. Now dead (or about to be), their families will grieve or seek revenge depending on how the PCs handle their corpses.
The Rope-Keeper — Ancient executioner's assistant, bound to service after death. Obsessive, methodical, sees its work as sacred duty completing an interrupted sentence.
The Master — Merchant-lord Valen Grith, who enslaved debtors in his mines. Executed and buried here with his victims, his spirit has warped into hateful undead sustained by unpaid metaphysical debts.
Elenna Tam — Tam's sister, village herbalist. Will pay 25 gp for her brother's body returned intact for proper burial, or demand justice if the PCs were careless with his remains.
Treasure:
Total: ~175 gp plus Reeve's bounty (50 gp per PC)
Experience:
Special: A PC who serves as guardian gains the Mark of the Debtor: +1 to saves vs. fear, but disadvantage on Charisma checks with merchants (the weight of debt clings to them).
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