The Mummy is in the real pantheon of Universal Monster movies from the 1930s, up there with Frankenstein (also played by Boris Karlov,) Bela Lugosi's Dracula, and Lon Chaney's Wolf Man. It's for this reason that we have Mummies and Mummy Lords in the Monster Manual - while being undead monsters that function well in horror, they also kind of bridge the gap with the broader adventure genre that plays quite well in D&D. Consider the 1999 remake of The Mummy that has only become more beloved over time, which really pushes the '30s pulp adventure side of the story.
But we're going to try to push more toward the side of horror here. Another thing that Mummies work pretty well with is cosmic horror - it's arguably colonialist to focus on this aspect of it, but I think part of what makes Mummies compelling as horror monsters is the fact that they're from an ancient and mysterious culture. Even the direct descendants of the cultures that engaged in these burial practices (obviously the most famous being the Egyptians) no longer worship the same gods or engage in those practices anymore, and so there's kind of shared DNA with elements of Cosmic Horror - that forgotten deities or other supernatural forces that have existed long before anything we're familiar with are still there and about to take over once again, sweeping aside the flimsy world we've built for ourselves in modern time.
But there's a simpler horror we can also engage with: Dark tombs with frightening things in them.
Har'Akir has plenty going on above the surface, but it's also an element of the domain that there is a massive labyrinth of tombs beneath the desert, connecting disparate areas of the domain, but also filled with deadly monsters.
Thus, to me, the most obvious adventure in Har'Akir is actually a dungeon crawl - and one in which the party never even glimpses the sky.
Here's how I see it working:
The party passes through the Mist, either escaping a different domain or maybe intentionally coming to Har'Akir with a Mist Talisman. When they arrive, they're in total darkness. Those who can see with Darkvision or the like will realize they're in a stone chamber with a number of sarcophagi.
Depending on the level of the party, they'll face a few minor or just reasonable threats, maybe swarms of scarabs (using either the Swarm of Insect stat block or I think Van Richten's has a specific Beetle one) or, if they're a lot tougher, some Mummies will also attack them.
Gradually, the party will find evidence that the complex they are in was an oubliette prison for a priestly executioner known as Anu's Blade. Sealed away, it's hard to tell precisely how long ago the Blade's punishment was, because the lack of exposure to the elements has kept the tomb intact.
In order to escape the tomb, the party needs to solve some puzzles at various chambers within the tomb, and also fight or avoid some of the monsters within.
However, The Blade herself also stalks the tomb.
We basically make The Blade work a bit like Mr. X in Resident Evil 2's remake. Using a stat block like a Relentless Stalker or Juggernaut (depending on the party's level,) The Blade stalks through the tomb with an intent to kill anything in its path (we might even have it attack the Mummies or giant scorpions or what-have-you the party is fighting to let them see how hard it hits before they come under direct attack). At any given time, as DM, you know where The Blade is, and if it's within two rooms away from the party, unless they are actively trying to sneak around and be quiet, she will pursue them.
Like Ankhtepot, The Blade has been cursed with unending life, forced to remain in this pitch-dark tomb for all eternity. If the party reduces her to zero hit points, she merely falls to her knees and can't stand up or move until an hour has passed, at which point she catches her breath and begins the pursuit again.
The puzzles can thematically tell her story: She served as an executioner under the high priest of Anu (one of the false gods that Ankhtepot created,) but grew jealous of the wealth and treasure that the priest took from the dead. Caught stealing from the temple coffers, the priest, Hemsuret, confronted her, and she cut him down. Hemsuret had been working on a project to recover Ankhtepot's lost Ka, and as punishment for this devastating setback, the Darklord trapped her in this tomb. I think, notably, while there are murals and carved sarcophagi, there is no gold, no jewels, or other fine things here.
Each puzzle would require collecting various key items around the tomb (we could literally use the RE2 approach and have a pseduo-Metroidvania thing where the party gains access to more and more of the tomb as they gain more keys, with The Blade only showing up after the initial exploration,) forcing the party to backtrack through previously-explored areas and risk more confrontations with the Blade.
Solving the puzzles in the tomb would eventually open a chamber that releases not into the open desert, but merely into another wall of mist that the party can then use to travel elsewhere.
Sticking to the Hs, we're on to Hazlan next! Prepare to get some FromSoft-style weirdness.
No comments:
Post a Comment