The Valley of Kings: Fluff for Organized Tomb Raiding

[Leviathan]

Since time immemorial, each king, before his death, has constructed a grand mausoleum filled with deadly traps and fantastic wealth. Naturally, tomb raiders had great fun breaking into these tombs and many fortunes were made with the loot therein. One clever king, considered insane in his time (though for other reasons), wasn't happy with this situation, so he worked with prominent adventurers to create a tomb that was meant to be raided. He declared that any who could survive his tomb and the guardians that dwelt within deserved whatever they could retrieve, and tasked an order of monks to keep the coffers stocked. His successors have followed suit, each building a grander and more deadly tomb than the last.


Today, the teams of adventurers that enter these tombs and return with treasure (or even with their lives) are some of the kingdom's greatest celebrities. Religious orders, wealthy benefactors, and historical preservation societies reset the traps as needed and keep the mausolea stocked with historically appropriate valuables. Most are guarded by undead, constructs, and outsiders (beings that need no food or rest), but wild animals and condemned prisoners are sometimes released into the tombs as well. Mages scry into the tombs and, for a fee, let the public track the progress of their heroes as they venture through these challenges.


Naturally, these dungeons attract all sorts: the desperate, the fame-seekers, those seeking to prove their worth, and psychopaths like the players who just want to kill people and take their stuff. Those without proper training tend to suffer any of a panoply of quick but gruesome deaths: decapitated, burned, drowned, torn in half, teleported straight to hell, etc. Teams with strong financial backing are better-equipped than those without, but the corpses and belongings of those who die are left inside the tombs, so it is possible to wander in with little more than the clothes on one's back and pick up still perfectly usable equipment as one goes.


Edit: Does anyone know any synonyms for "tomb"?

[NunoM]

The following aren't all synonyms, but are appropriate to your setting, IMO: Crypts, Necropolis (i.e. City of the Dead), catacombs, sepulcres.

[Garryl]

How do the monks get through the traps themselves in order to restock the coffers? Why aren't all sorts of challengers not doing the same thing, thus trivializing the challenge?

[NunoM]

I can find a few cliches to justify the entrance of adventurers into the dungeons... Perfectly fine if you want to go with that. Here are some:
- Convicted criminals
- A periodical populace draft (the Minotaur legend, or the "Hunger Games", anyone?)
- A festival or sports event (like the Olympics but lethal)

As for the restocking of treasure and setting of traps, there's nothing a little magic can't accomplish. Teleports supported by scrying and a few Wall of Stone spells would work to block off attackers while the traps are being set. If supported by armed guards, that would be good too. The monks would have to be very careful not to divulge even the faintest source of information, though. Magic works for the PCs too.

...but i raise a few other hooks of my own:
- It's fair to say that convicted criminals won't be allowed to exit the tombs, even if they do traverse them safely. Or are they? If not, they might form into gangs and set up camps to control some territory, and even a kind of society in there.
- Such amount of treasure in one place is a dead set target for the most famous hoarders of all: dragons. It doesn't matter if the treasures are underground, those criters will find a way to get them.

Just some more food for thought...

[Leviathan]

Thanks for the vocabulary, NunoM!

My intent was that this be a sport. Though only the bravest participate directly, you too can follow their exploits with your TV/scrying pool/town crier. A Hunger Games comparison did occur to me as I wrote it, but if I played or DM'd something like this I'd rather everybody involved be volunteers.


The monks know how all the traps are built (and how to bypass them), because they were entrusted with the blueprints. For a contestant to peek at the blueprints or to have more knowledge of the crypts than they gained from past expeditions is considered cheating of the worst sort. About once a decade somebody gets accused of this, but usually falsely: as maintainers of and experts on some of the best security systems around, the monks know how to keep people out of a room.


To avoid ecological concerns, I've written most of the guardians as undead, constructs, outsiders, and the like. Another advantage of using these guys is that all of them could be commanded not to attack anyone who presents the symbol of the monks who maintain the tombs. Obviously nobody's going to wander in brandishing one of these symbols during competition - it would be extremely unsportsmanlike, to say the least. The monks might even keep the specific symbol they use for this purpose hidden, and have another icon for public use.


I'm afraid there's not really an easy way to fit dragons in here - particularly literally, as most of the architecture probably consists of small passages. A dragon with a humanoid alternate form or similar could participate, and imagine the ratings when everyone finds out that their favorite adventurer was a dragon in disguise all along! Dragons don't make good guardians, for two reasons. First, they (usually) aren't immortal, which is a big deal when you're guarding a king's tomb which should look impressive forever. Second, living conditions aren't so great: cramped spaces, no open sky to fly in, no townsfolk to eat, and worst of all the knowledge that you're guarding someone else's treasure. Dragons are, of course, welcome to sponsor teams of adventurers (openly or discreetly) in exchange for a cut of the loot, or the first look at anything interest they might find.