Uncovering Mystic Carrion‘s Macabre Servant: A Hero‘s Harrowing Journey into the Heart of Darkness
I. Descent into the Charnel House
The stench billows, assaulting you even from afar – noxious miasma seeming to corrupt the very sunlight above that pathetic hovel. Steeling your nerves, you duck inside its sagging doorway, girding for whatever horrors fester within…
Dim torchlight flickers off bloodstained walls bedecked with chains and bone fragments. The thrum of flies mixes with faint screams from some unknowable distance. Kneeling amidst the gore-slicked dirt and gnawed limbs is a hunched figure in spiked, leather armor – Thrombo the Torturer.
This wretched shell was once Zagoth the Bold, champion warrior of realm and church. Now little trace of humanity persists in what Carrion‘s cruel sorceries have wrought…
"My days are guttering candles, my nights endless agony," Thrombo rasps, bits of desiccated flesh sloughing off as he stirs to greet you…
II. The Sadistic Schemes of Mystic Carrion
Severed heads mounted on pikes. Imprisoned villagers drained of blood, leashed by chains embedded into flesh. Such are the gruesome discoveries littering the diseased catacombs of Mystic Carrion‘s lair.
This infamous death mage and his cabal of fanatical followers have terrorized the realm for decades. After years studying at the Cemetery of Barovia, Carrion mastered secrets of binding departed souls into undead servitude – knowledge far too dangerous for any man to wield.
His plan to resurrect a mythical dragon cult failed uponChurch zealots disrupting the profane ritual. They toppled the necromancer‘s growing empire, assuming him dead amidst the carnage. But Mystic Carrion endures, an inscrutable darkness now marshalling power from deep below the forgotten crypts of Moldoon…
III. A Tortured Soul Seeks Salvation
"Mercy! Save me from this hell – destroy the jars binding my soul," Thrombo pleads. Slaying wraiths guarding each vessel finally releases the tortured warrior‘s spirit. Such small solace for one broken upon the wheel of Carrion‘s malicious will.
Dialogue options reveal full depths of the necromancer‘s demonic cruelty:
"He made me put hot irons into folk while they still drew breath…I can still hear the sizzling of their skin and smell their burning hair."
"Sometimes he‘d drown someone near to death, bring them back, then start again – for days sometimes…"
"He talked of the perfect undead host, immortal, indestructible – so he could live forever, tormenting souls for eternity."
You swear to end such profane schemes, though Thrombo responds with chilling resignation. "You don‘t know Carrion like I know Carrion…he‘ll never stop trying to resurrect that dragon god, no matter the lives lost…"
IV. Harrowing the Secret Graveyard Grounds
Rain-slick mud sucks at your boots while you comb the tangled wilderness. Thrombo‘s instructions echo in memory – track down stolen breath hidden in jars around this accursed hollow. Smash each prison to release whatever tormented spirits still linger…
Crushing glass jars proves unexpectedly taxing, both physically and emotionally. You discover remains of children, even infants, alongside moldering organs ripped from adults. Carrion‘s vile crony exhumed countless graves harvesting materials for his lord‘s dark agendas.
Fetid mounds concealing the stolen wares soon dissolve after returning your grim trove into the earth. Spectral forms dance about your vision, voices whispering gratitude. Helping these poor souls rest, despite horrors already suffered, feels like small solace for their untimely demise…
Beware the Unhallowed Grounds
Your desecrations soon awaken the restless dead from their muddy beds! Phase spiders, venomous beasts that slip between dimensional barriers also prowl the region. Arm up and prepare for close encounters against the creatures below:
| Enemy | Vulnerabilities | Immunities | Strategies |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mud Mephits | Fire Spells | Poison, Non-Magical Weapons | Use AoE attacks to destroy their mud projectiles |
| Wraiths | Sunlight, Radiant Magic | Non-Magical Weapons | Backline support to turn invisible allies visible |
| Ghouls | Fire Damage | Fear, Poison | Kite melee distance, exploit paralysis weakness |
| Skeletons | Bludgeoning Damage | Poison | Whittle down from range, limit archer line of sight |
| Phase Spiders | Thunder/Force Damage | Fire, Poison | Ready actions to attack when they shift planes |
V. The Shocking Twist Housed Within Your Own Chest
Amidst looting Thrombo‘s blood-soaked den, the man‘s face suddenly clarifies into that of warrior Zagoth. He claims the breath imprisoned in your chest belongs to you all along! This clever narrative turn questions identity and perception, suggesting the protagonist unknowingly carries remnants of Carrion‘s wicked sorceries…
Does such malignant force influence your actions? How to be certain wishes remain your own when an external will marks your soul? These philosophical dilemmas immerse gamers more fully in the sword-and-sorcery setting than any monster combat could accomplish alone.
By housing Zagoth‘s tormented essence within you, the writers hint at some destined intervention with fate itself. Heroes represent more than just solitary actors – they channel generations of mythic purpose toward righting past wrongs. Zagoth perhaps recognizes kindred valor and yearns for redemption vicariously through your exploits.
VI. Seeking the Treasures Within Ancient Ruins
Guiding spectral lights flicker ahead through slimy stone passageways – the wisps of forgotten crypt wards reacting to traces of Carrion‘s magic upon your armor and weapons. Baleful whispers and echoing screams beckon from the darkness…
These primeval foundations predate current mortals dwelling above by centuries. Shrines to dead gods and snake- demons litter the halls beyond sightless Guardian statues wielding scythes. Avoid their cursed gaze while navigating rooms filled with overgrowth fungus emitting toxic spores.
At long last, the passage opens into a vast chamber with soaring obsidian pillars. Ghostly eyes painted onto the far wall seem to track your every move. Approaching cautiously reveals a glowing ruby seal – the reliquary lock barring entry to the legendary Blackgarden Vaults…
Fiendish Wards Bar All But the Persistent…
Dark sorceries slither across the chamber as you shatter the pulsating ruby, siphoning precious time itself in backlash! Endure these profane attacks by activating any countermagic trinkets and blasting the emerging wraith constructs with AoE effects:
Soul Harvest: Target loses 1,000 XP (500 on save)
Death Call: 75% Max HP as necrotic damage
Grave Coil: Restrained by spectral chains (Acrobatics/Athletics check to avoid)
Once the chamber falls silent, pry open iron doors leading into…
The Vault of Secrets Revealed
Flickering braziers half-illuminate mountains of gold coins, jewel-inlaid weapons, and artifacts from civilizations crumbled into dust ages ago. The riches within could fund entire kingdoms!
Yet so much glorious loot merely serves as bait, affording the cunning archmage advance warning should any breach his sanctum. Grab what you can quickly carry, but know lingering too long risks alerting Mystic Carrion himself. Should he arrive and seal off your escape…no dragon‘s hoard could ever match such danger!
+12,000 Gold Pieces
Blackgarden Blade – Legendary Bastard Sword
1d10 Slashing + 2d6 Necrotic
+2 Attack/Damage Rolls
On Critical: Target‘s Hit Point Maximum Reduced By Damage Dealt (1 Minute Duration)
Scroll of Mordiggian – Spell Scroll (Wizard)
Casts Blight spell regardless of level/class/slots:
- Instantly kills any target below 30 hit points
- Others take 8d8 necrotic damage (Con Save for half)
Spectral Alembic – Alchemical Apparatus
Produces 3x normal yield for potions/oils using ectoplasm reagents
VII. Confronting the Defiler of Souls
A rasping voice echoes from webs of shadow now sealing the vault entrance:
"You dare steal from Mystic Carrion‘s private sanctum? Now your corpse shall host a harvester wraith for all eternity!"
Piercing the darkness reveals the archmage himself wreathed in tattered robes, darkness coalescing with each guttural syllable. Snarling threats about binding your soul as punishment, he gestures dramatically – morphing into a 10-foot tall undead abomination!
This two-headed colossus unleashes a deafening roar, churning the stone floor itself into spectral jaws seeking flesh! It also vomits poison clouds while swinging giant cleaving arms against your party. Dodge these brutal attacks and quickly counter with AoE disables:
Carrion Abomination
200 Hit Points
+15 to hit, Reach 10 ft,, 3 Actions per Turn
Multiattack: 2x Slam (3d10+7) or Vomit Cloud (3d6 poison, DC17 Constitution Save)
Regeneration: Regains 20 HP per round
Despite the vault‘s expansive space, limiting maneuverability slows the monster‘s onslaught. Utilize door chokepoints and ranged spells to whittle it down safely. Occasionally the fiend stops attacking to gorge on any nearby corpses – finishing off fallen allies if given opportunity!
Once finally felling the unholy terror, spot a glowing amulet torn from where its heart would reside…
VIII. Legacy of the Corpse Whisperer
"Mortals forever waste brief lives struggling against death," the whispering voices of this foreboding artifact intone. "Yet in me, see how one sage transcended such petty concerns…"
Upon equipping the Corpse Whisperer Amulet discovered on Mystic Carrion‘s mutated remains, users gain access to the following powers:
Death‘s Door: Convert killing blows against you into dropping to 1 HP instead (1 use per day)
Grave Sight: See and speak with departed souls, gain clues to your surroundings (3 uses per day)
Life Leech: Touch attack drains 2d8 HP from living beings, heals you the same amount
Such boons suggest Carrion unlocked ways not just to animate the dead, but project his living essence between vessels. Could the defeated abomination thus return someday, possessing even stronger forms? All battle victories promise danger of retaliation…
IX. Bittersweet Reunions
Your business concluded, all that remains is ensuring Zagoth finally rests peacefully. His spirit now unfettered by Carrion‘s wicked magics, this noble warrior deserves whatever fates await in the beyond.
Returning to the graveyard‘s disturbing tranquility, Thrombo‘s hovel lays empty…yet lingering sparkles soon coalesce into a ghostly form you recognize.
"Because of you, I‘m finally free of that monster‘s clutches! There is but one gift left to offer for paying such mercy," Zagoth proclaims before fading into motes of light.
Kneeling down, freshly overturned dirt uncovers a buried strongbox. Within gleams Ranger General Zagoth‘s ancestral Periapt of Fortitude – offering substantial defense boosts for those that follow his courageous example…
X. Dead But Dreaming
With Mystic Carrion‘s plans foiled, his unhallowed demesnes now empty save for memories of suffering endured there. Thrombo‘s wretched existence finally ended; Zagoth‘s noble spirit peacefully released into whatever realms await valorous knights beyond mortal realm. No true victory emerges to erase generations of anguish wrought at the archmage‘s hands, yet hope persists that your intervention forestalls further spread of his corrupting ambitions…
Still, demonic whispers ride the wind as you depart the charnel ruins behind. Tales that Carrion transcended death itself long before sorcery unlocked the Blackgarden Vaults. Such power thrives amidst the teeming secrets still lurking below reality‘s fragile surface – waiting for a worthy heir to unearth and command their revelations once again…