Barrow Mound and Maze maps

[Spearmint]

A public gallery of areas explored and initial descriptions.

continually edited.

[Spearmint]

This is the first map which I will extend and uncover as explorations reveal stuff.

Let me know if this style works for you guys

[Spearmint]

Barrow Mounds descriptions.

Barrow 1: (encountered on May 20th, Mummy Returns group.)

A large stone seals the entrance to this mounds interior. A rugged stone frame and lintel are set into the earth. Overgrown with long strands of dark ivy and creeping vines. A close look makes out the bare bleached bones of victims entangled in the vines, now left dangling where they may once have been snared. You can check around the mound but no other entrances or indeed excavations here are found. Three upright obelisks are in the top of the barrow. Each is about four feet square and eight high. Several attempts seem to have been made to sculpt caricature faces into the surfaces of the obelisks, you see an obvious dwarven face with a long beard, a pointy eared elf, a prominent toothed orc.

Old boots prints and animal tracks litter the mound, nothing fresh. It seems well travelled over and by the look of the still sealed entrance, well ignored.


Barrow 2: encountered on May 10th by Vultures Shadow expedition.

you see the dark hump of a grassy mound. After walking up the inclined slope you see that it plateau's out but rather than just being a flat topped hill, there is a large round stone built burial chamber.

Making a circle of it, you come to the eastern side and find that a large entrance has been excavated in the exterior. The entrance proceeds forward a few feet then drops sharply into a water filled landing. At the foot of that landing a thick stone seal bars entry beyond. There are no steps down, the descending passage has literally just been dug out of the earth and large portions of stone and masonry just fit loosely into the supporting structure.

Someone has taken a lot of labour to locate the entrance and dig down to it but yet, have not prevailed to gain egress further.

Edit: the team broke through into a chamber beyond. Subsequently collapsing the entrance into an oval chamber below. The group dug a tunnel out to escape.

Barrow 5:

A large green knoll. A rounded hill covering an oval shape, ellipsoid like half a giant green egg.

At the top is a freshly dug grave. A small wooden sign simply states, Rufus, "butcher, baker, excavator. died, April 1st 1066 we staked him down, just in case like, ... No hard feelings, just the way it is". Pat Doggrel n' the Boyz

At the bottom of the hill facing east, an area of excavation has taken place. Abandoned now but the lintel of a grey stone door contrasts to the buttercups and daisies growing around it.

Barrow 6

A large round hillock. This one has much shrubbery growing on its sides, thick thorn bushes and briars. They are lush and verdant green though a blackened tree trunk near the knoll crown provides a stark contrast.

Barrow Mound 7:. Nergal's Door
To the south east a large mound rises. Among the tall grasses are several broken tombstones, half upright and half lying flat in a semi circle around the mound base, giving the impression of higgledy-piggledy teeth. The hammering is loud here on the south. It seems a group of adventurers have pitched up determined to breakthrough the stone seals that ward the tomb interior. The excavation has uncover a path of red and black flagstones which are believed to lead to the Nergal Obelisk (11). The tomb is sealed (magically?) The huge bronze door decorated in pentagrams and an embossed Nergal skull image. An altar slab with a blood gutter that leads to the door has been broken in two. (by the falling Knievel).

Barrow 9: Large grassy knoll, bare of stone or tree. Nothing is seen to either side. A few attempts at scratching the surface remain as evidence of previous tomb robbers checking but nothing indicates any success in burrowing it. A few walks around and listening checks, you are convinced the mound is raised in clear ground, 180'ft in all directions. (Had 15 skeletons on which were driven off).

From May 8th Hallowed Ground expedition:

'The mound is a circular shape, bare of any crowning features except the weeds and grasses that cover it. To one side a large patch of the ground has been uncovered and then filled back in. Protruding from the ground is a single skeletal arm, reaching upwards'. The middle finger of the hand bent into a rude sign.

Barrow 10:
This grassy hill is ellipsoid shaped, like half an egg, with a narrow taper to the north. Going around the south wider edge of the hillock you come to an area of excavation. A chunk of the hill has been dug open and a stone seal exposed. The slab is set in a frame of granite lintels. A few chunks have been chipped from its surface but no entry beyond has been achieved.

Lying on the floor before the stone door is a body. A huge metal stake has been hammered through his chest. His body gnawed on by rats and carrion creatures. A sledgehammer lies to one side, scattered goods from a backpack dot the undergrowth.

Subsequently, the sealed door was broken through which lead to a narrow passage, whose alcoves contained a strange fungal purple moss.

Beyond a single stone coffin in the middle of a domed octagonal chamber. This contained a hollow pottery figure which was smashed and looted.

Around the chamber's where several rows of amphora. A poltergeist threw these at the intruding party who succeeded in locating a small secret room containing a stone coffer and burial alcoves.

Barrow 14:
The squires make a sweep of the covered mound (14), a few excavated spots look like a trial and error attempt to find an entrance but no determined effort has been made to unlock the secreted to what lies beneath the grassy tumulus.

Barrow 15:
You follow a foot path of fresh prints that come and go, circling around barrow (15). Taking that you arrive at a section of excavation, a chunk of earth dug out exposing the rocky stones that guard the mound. The area is littered with the debris of shattered carts and broken wheelbarrows. Blood splatters on the grass indicate the violence that occured here though no one is around to testify. The hours taken to dig through the earth to gain the still sealed stone entrance futile as the place is abandoned.

Barrow Mound 16:
A similar height to the first, a grassy knoll with thistles and heather spreading up the sides. You climb up the incline and halfway down you spot another excavation has opened the earth. Piled outside the tomb entrance are the bony remains of a score of skeletal warriors, carrion crows picking among their shattered bones. A large round millstone seems to have been rolled away from the entrance, framed in stone blocks carved into the appearance of huge grizzlies.

Description:. Entering past the bear- carved lintels, an arched 5'ft wide passage proceeds 15'ft before opening into s circular domed chamber with alcoves all around the walls. Opposite another arch leads to a second circular chamber with two stone sarcophagi in the centre.

The sarcophagus of the bear has an iron pull ring which opens a false floor in the casket. Their is a spiral stone staircase leading to a flagstone landing and beyond, a 20'ft deep staircase descends into the Barrowmaze. (78/81)

Barrow mound 17:

Directly south, after a hundred feet another grassy knoll rises from the ground. The earth is churned over in multiple places, indicating several previous attempts to dig from the top of the mound or from various locations around the edge. No obvious entrance to the barrow interior is noted by one excavation is more promising than the others. It is a large area, some typical building stones cast aside, though the area has been filled back in. consider a 20'ft square pit, dug up then refilled.

Two spades with fluttering ribbons are stuck upright into the ground a short distance away. In front of them, the ground has been burrowed giving the impression that a hastily dug burial plot has been grave robbed.

Barrow Mound 18: (nominally tagged as Frog Mound)

In a few hundred feet you see the rising of another hillock towards the south. A large earthen ditch, filled with reeds and surrounds the incline which from your view north of it seems to have many places of excavation that has breached the interior.

With the croaking of many frogs that hop among the reeds here, you designate this the Frog Mound, certainly no vultures are present though you scour the skies looking for the avians and more divine inspiration.the breaches in the mound are much larger than a burrowed entrance for an ant nest. These are certainly places that groups have dug out over the years, dark holes that a man could walk through upright.

That could make you think the mound covers several smaller individual tombs or just that several break-ins were achieved. Without fording the ditch and going closer to inspect, you cannot tell. Certainly none of the breaches go through any kind of stone framed doorway or 'official' entrance.

Barrow 19: (Vultures shadow expedition)

The tumuli is large and round, a huddle of crooked trees grow on the eastern side.

[OGRE MAGE]

Is the updated map posted somewhere else?

Also, is this information considered public knowledge that any player can use? Or are we able to keep the "secret" door to ourselves?

[Spearmint]

Yellow cover map edited & posted.

Any entrance and description should be considered as ooc info unless revealed publicly in a tavern thread.

[OGRE MAGE]

Excellent!

Got it!

Thanks!

[sastaz]

Is there a player map of the inside? If not, do you want me to draw a player map? I already map in another campaign, so I'd be happy to.

If so, should I just periodically post it in my PC's expedition thread?

[Spearmint]

The current explored Barrow Mounds for those who have been there.

[Spearmint]

This is just a basic map showing the two routes from the village of Helix to the Barrow Mounds.

Helix:
The village has been established in the centre of a hex area of about 22 sq miles (can you have sq miles in a hex?), the apothem, the line from the hex centre to the straight edges is 2.5 miles (about 50mins walk). The hex is considered safe territory and the limit of militia patrols. The very southern edge of the hex contains a long series of deep carp pools which effectively negate anyone trekking directly south and acts as a natural buffer to creatures that wander the Moor. Adventurers wishing to trek to the Mounds choose one of two common ways.

A) west via the Shrine of Herne then south and circling the Mounds to approach them from the south. 7.5 miles across the Moor from the forest edge. Journey time approx 5 hours across Moor.
This way is shorter but considered more dangerous as the region directly north of the Mounds has many notorious 'quicksand' like bogs.

B) tacking southwest off the trail to Ironguard and traversing the shifting peat trails near the Standing Stone camp. A slightly longer 6 hour trek covering about 9 miles. The ground, though meandering is considered safer than the west trail.

[Spearmint]

Description of Barrow Mounds and continual editing as expeditions encounter them.

Barrow mounds: 21 - 30.

Barrow mound 24:

A similar distance directly east, you locate another burial mound. This tumulus is covered in thick bracken, long leafy ferns that sprout red currants and tangles of coarse milky white briars. Grazing among the sparse buds on the knoll top are a number of large baboons which suddenly rise up as a herd to hoot and beat chests. Clearly they feel your incursion upon their territory as a threat but as yet they remain on the high ground as you circumnavigate the foot of the mound.

encountered 20th May, (P&G expedition)

(nominally tagged as Baboon mound 24).

Barrow Mound Graveyard: (26-27)
Hex south of (26) :A few hundred yards on you notice that you come to an area with small headstones in the ground and looming over the graveyard a number of lurching Weeping Willow trees, their long green dangling fronds of leaves giving the appearance of a shambling, shaggy tree. The tombstones are old, often scratched and clawed of identification or epitaph, overgrown with moss and lichen. The graveyard must cover a sizeable area, (one 120'ft hex).

Barrow Mound: (27)

The neighbouring barrow to the Graveyard. At the top of this mound is a large dolmen. A large flat plinth set upon several supporting stones. An old campfire looks to have been made under the eaves of the structure. It is an interesting feature.The dolmen is climbed by an intrepid adventurer, probably Cadeweed. You might have got a scenic vista in normal circumstances but the mist is all pervading and beyond a 60'ft radius you struggle to make out shapes and figures. Even the sunlight only filters through in faint rays of orange.

Standing on the plinth does give one advantage which is to catch the faint squawking of avian calls. The mist catching the sounds of squabbling critters which by your experience may be more carrion birds, the noise drifting on the breeze from the north east.

You also note another stone edifice which is on the southern edge of the mount summit. This looks like a large carved throne and sitting in the chair is a large skeleton. The figure looks to have been made to pose in position (rather than it is a skeleton who just happened to take a breather and sit down), one hand resting on the hilt of a large blade which is partly buried in the ground. His gaze focused over the entrance to the barrow which is on the south face of the mound.

Scrambling off the raised plinth you can have two casual observations about it. It is large enough for a giant figure to lie upon being as it is at least 12'ft long. It also slanted for the supporting stones are taller at one end than the other. The noted embers of a camp fire are within the eaves under the plinth where a small group could shelter from the elements. A rusty spoon, old firelight flint, empty tin can confirm the lunch spot. You decide not to encroach upon the skeleton poised in his silent contemplation on the stone throne.