1. Locations

Crying Fields

Natural Feature
Aundair in Khorvaire

As the last rays of the sun fade from the red-stained plain, crenellated walls and ruined siege engines emerge from the gloom. Ghostly soldiers charge one another in a swirling melee, crying “A throne for Wroann!” or “Aundair to victory!”

Twenty-seven days of the month, the Crying Fields of southern Aundair are quiet grasslands notable only for the red-tinged flora and the white stone monuments and crypts that dot the landscape. But on nights when the moon is full, the Crying Fields become a twisted mockery of a Last War battlefield, with once-living soldiers battling each other to gain the victory they could not attain in life.

The Crying Fields lie east of Ghalt near the Thrane border. Thrane armies, attempting to avoid long sieges of Tower Valiant or Tower Vigilant, invaded toward Ghalt on five separate occasions during the Last War. Each time, a bloody battle was fought among the farms of southeast Aundair—hundreds of acres of land that now comprise the Crying Fields.

Aundairian farmers long since abandoned the farms, and now the only life in the Crying Fields is the hardy, crimson-tinged grass that sprang up when the fields lay fallow. Even on the sunniest day, visitors to the Crying Fields can hear the clash of swords and cries of anguish, though muffled and distant as if issuing from another world. At night the sounds of battle grow louder and more distinct.

On the night of the ascendant full moon, the battle be comes entirely real, as undead soldiers, Aundairian and Thrane alike, emerge from the night to battle one another—and any among the living who are brave enough or unlucky enough to be in the Crying Fields on that night.

Environment

During the day, a DC 20 Listen check is suffi cient to hear the sounds of past battles; on ordinary nights the DC drops to 15. On the night of the full moon, hearing the battle is automatic—it’s a real battle at that point, not just the distant echo of past clashes.

When the moon is full, characters can see clearly for 60 feet, and they can peer through concealing shadows for another 60 feet; characters with lowlight vision can see 120 feet, plus another 120 feet in shadows. The prevailing Aundair weather applies in the Crying Fields on full-moon nights, although the undead soldiers largely ignore weather. The magical transformation that turns the Crying Fields into an undead battlefield suffuses the entire area with a strong aura of necromancy.

The same necromantic transformation that creates undead soldiers also recreates a hodgepodge of walls, trenches, and the detritus of war. But because the historical battles that led to the creation of the Crying Fields were fought decades apart and under different conditions, the arrangement of the fortifications makes no rational sense—it’s just a jumbled mix of five battles overlaid atop one another.

April 22nd, 2019

Graves

The Crying Fields didn’t undergo monthly transformation into a necromantic battleground until 974 YK, the first anniversary of the Battle of Crying Fields. After major battles in 920, 925, 955, and 968 YK, peace returned to the region long enough for one side or the other to bury their dead and commemorate the valor of the fallen.

Whether it’s day or night, the Crying Fields are home to dozens of graveyards, crypts, and monuments to the fallen.

Graveyards have gravestones every 10 feet. Standing in a square with a gravestone gives you a +2 bonus to Armor Class and a +1 bonus on Refl ex saves (these bonuses don’t stack with cover bonuses from other sources). The presence of a gravestone doesn’t otherwise affect a creature’s fighting space.

Crypts and monuments are generally windowless 10- or 20-foot-square stone buildings, sometimes with a basement level. Monuments have open doorways so visitors can see the statuary and inscriptions, but crypts are kept locked (with a DC 20 or 30 lock). Some 50% of crypts have a CR 7 to CR 10 trap to keep grave robbers out; those that don’t have traps were looted decades ago.

The undead soldiers that fight on the Crying Fields emerge from the night itself, not from specific crypts. But the undead fight tenaciously to seize and hold graves belonging to their side

April 22nd, 2019

Funeral Pyres

The practice of a funeral pyre for dead war heroes isn’t widespread among the Five Nations, so the prevalence of funeral pyres in the Crying Fields on full-moon nights is puzzling. Yet dozens of funeral pyres burn across the Crying Fields, each with a dead Aundairian or Thrane hero from one of the five major battles.

The pyres burn throughout the night, casting bright illumination for 200 feet in every direction. They also have treasure, a rich array of gifts for the afterlife, that makes them a target for treasure hunters willing to risk the wrath of the undead.

April 22nd, 2019