Records of these people are sparse at best. What became of them is unknown. All that remains are the ruins of their enshrined crypts, decorated with murals of the crystals’ story, and the crystals themselves. These crystals still illuminate the darkened burial site, having been set as central decorations and curiously growing in clusters that spread across the walls and floor. Stranger still are the skeletons that lie graveless in the crypt, their bones coated with formations of blue crystal that grow from within their ribcages and across their limbs. 

These corpses are the remnants of the crypts’ final denizens. Their exact identities are lost, whether that be willing adherents to the crystals who remained to protect the graves, or their victims who were forcefully consumed by implanted stones. They are little more than bones now, but these desiccated, crystallized husks are more than they seem. The crystals that grew within them now animate the skeletons. They puppeteer the ancient bones with a ghostly energy, infusing them with strength and forming weapons for their hosts to wield against any who darken their blue-lit halls. If one is to discover the secrets of the crypt, they must face its protectors, both skeletal and crystal.

The Crystal Crypts

Blue light drifts from crystals set in centralized fixtures, painting dark stone and the surface of the several feet of water that has flooded the tomb. The illumination is still and unwavering, never dimming or flickering, bathing the ruins in an unnaturally cold constancy. The construction beneath this glow is old and weathered, with many areas that have broken from the rigors of time. Some stone has even fallen victim to crystal growths that pierce through from the earth beneath. These same crystals creep across skeletons that lay across the floor and in the water, clusters of the blue stone filling their ribcages and encasing various limbs.

The crypts are a forgotten ruin of a similarly lost people, set beside a lake around which villages once stood. It is unknown who originally built them, as they are close to, yet distinctly separated from the settlements that shared the water. The same can be said of those who were interred in the graves, though the scale and expense of decoration suggests that they were individuals of some means or renown. Chief among these decorations are the numerous crystals. The glowing stones are affixed throughout the crypts as light sources, while others appear to naturally grow from the walls and floor.

The crypt’s history was unfortunately buried with its final resident, leaving the story of its creation to interpretation and hearsay. The origin of the crystals is told only in what remains of the environment, limited to depictions of the stones’ discovery engraved upon the walls, and leaving only questions as to its connection to those buried in the crypt. Stranger still is how and why the crystal grows like mold in the edges of rooms.

Both the crystals and graves act as the centerpieces of the crypts. Long hallways connect rectangular rooms, within which the crystal clusters are ensconced as light sources, the largest of them resembling shrines set on platforms and pathways elevated above the water. The bodies interred are held within stone coffins set in alcoves along the rooms’ walls. This comes with two exceptions. The first is a single grave in the crypts’ largest chamber, which is raised on a platform before a crystal-lit walkway. Second are the skeletons that are left abandoned throughout the rooms. Whether they were adherents to the crystals or perhaps the victims of some archaic ritual, their remains have now decayed beyond any recognizability as crystals creep and grow across their bones.

Ceilings and lighting. The crypts’ ceilings all arch to a height of 20 feet above the lowest floor, or 15 feet above the raised floors and surface of the water. The chambers have no sources of natural light and only the crystals to illuminate them, which each produce bright light in a radius of 10 feet and dim light for a further 30 feet.

Water and walkways. Many of the crypt’s rooms are separated into two distinct elevation levels, with raised stone walkways and platforms set 5 feet above the rooms’ floors. These floors are flooded by just under 5 feet of water, rendering their area difficult terrain. 

A character that succeeds on a DC 10 Intelligence (Investigation) check of these areas deduces that the flooding is an intentional element of the crypts’ design, with the raised sections allowing for the rooms to be navigated without entering the water. On a roll of 13 or more, the character also realizes that the water must be coming from the lake, a curious design given that it would have carried sediment from both the crystals and any decaying bodies back into the water source.

Draining levers. The larger flooded rooms each feature a lever set into the floor. When a lever is used, the water in the respective room drains through openings set at the base of the room’s walls. The water takes until initiative 20 (losing initiative ties) of the following round to drain completely. Using the lever again allows the water to pour back into the room, taking the same amount of time to fill back to 5 feet deep.

Wall murals. Several of the crypts’ larger chambers feature murals carved into the stone walls. These appear to depict the history of the crystals decorating the crypts, and include the following:

• A scene of the night sky above a surface of water. A single, shining star is descending from the center of the sky, while fishing boats approach from either side.
• A crowd of people gathered around what appears to be a boulder that has split in two. One figure stands atop the boulder, holding a large crystal above his head.
• A figure kneeling in shallow water, their arms stretched to either side and wrists held by hands that extend from beyond the mural’s edges. A robed figure stands over them, a crystal held in one hand over the kneeling figure, while the other hand holds a hammer above his head.
• A long row of people standing in waist-high water with their hands raised towards the sky in praise. Each of them wears different clothing or armor, but each one is marked with a circular opening over their heart, within which is a crystal.
• A long row of people, each with a hand extended directly upwards and another clutching their heart. Small clusters of crystals grow across the people’s skin and clothes. Their outstretched hands are mirrored by angular, crystalline hands that reach down from the mural’s upper edge.
• A depiction of one of the crypts’ tombs, with people kneeling solemnly on either side of it. Crystals appear to grow from and around the crypt.

A character that views these various murals can make a DC 13 Intelligence (Investigation) check to approximate their meaning. On a success, they ascertain that the artworks depict the history of a group of people who were drawn together by the falling star and went on to establish a sect that worshipped the crystal found within the stone. They appear to focus on the group’s founder, presented as the robed figure. The art shows his discovery of the crystal and the rituals that came from it, which appear to have included physically implanting the crystals in his followers in reverence of whatever they believed to have sent the star. The final mural seems to show the adherents mourning their founder’s death and burial.

One of the murals, which depicts the figure kneeling before this leader, draws into question whether the others are in fact willing followers or his victims. The figure appears to be being held in place while the ritual is carried out, suggesting that it may have been done by force and used as a method of indoctrination.

Stone tombs. The regular graves in the crypts are split between different rooms, each one a stone coffin set in a recess in the wall. A character that succeeds on a DC 16 Wisdom (Perception) check of the graves or their surroundings notices specks of light leaking out from tiny gaps under the lids; the same light that glows from the crystals. Though heavy, most of the coffins’ lids are not locked and can be unsealed.

The bodies inside are encased in crystal. The gemstone has grown enough to consume the skeletons and fill much of the space around, some even preventing the stone lid from being moved. The bodies have decayed to skeletons, with only the barest shreds of clothing remaining. A character that closely inspects the encased bodies notices that they each wear several pieces of jewelry with spaces for gemstones to be set, yet no stones are attached. A character that has recognized the crystals’ ability to grow deduces that these accessories were likely originally fitted with small pieces of the crystal.

The sole coffin in the larger chamber is different. It has no crystal inside, holding only a withered corpse that clutches a celestite trident.

Much of the crypts’ history has been left intentionally vague and can be adjusted or interpreted in different ways. The murals are one example of this, as the figures depicted can be seen as either a cult’s adherents or its victims. The flooding mechanism is a similar mystery. It may have been used to carry tiny crystal particles into the nearby lake, spreading them into anyone who drank from the waters, or it may have served another, far less sinister purpose. These details and explanations can be changed to fit your own world or can simply be left unexplained, lost to the ages.

Map & Asset Downloads

The celestite undead and their crypt are inspired by our own ‘Crystal Crypts’ battle map, which also comes in a series of variants. Alternatively, you can use our many different assets to construct your own map, or simply have the undead appear in another, similar setting…

Celestite Weapons

The coffin set alone in the larger chamber has a celestite trident held by the corpse inside. Additionally, celestite ammunition can be found scattered throughout the ruin. The former may have been either a ritual tool or a weapon, depending on how one interprets the history of the crypts, though the latter suggests a more direct and far more sinister purpose.

Celestite Skeletons

The celestite skeletons are the animated corpses of those who were committed to the crystal, either during their life or upon death. These crystals grew from feeding on their expiring life force, storing the energy and remaining dormant once the crypts fell silent. They respond to any intrusion upon their territory, the crystals dragging withered bones to unlife in defense of the graves they guard, still following ancient orders to crystalize any intruders into new additions to their ranks.

Celestite Tyrfing

CR 1/4

The skeleton clatters to unlife. Its dry, pale bones crack into place, their white illuminated by the cold blue light that glows softly from crystals growing across the skeleton’s many pieces. They originate from a large cluster held in its ribcage, from which formations branch to its limbs, joints, and skull.

In their most basic form, corpses seeded with a celestite crystal develop into celestite tyrfing. These bodies have either not had as long to develop as other variants or were delegated as worker drones by those tending to them, and so are little more than skeletons animated by the clusters that grow inside of them and across their bones. Though not large enough to form weapons, these growths still serve to reinforce the skeletons. They enhance the skeletons both defensively and offensively, and grant them the celestite’s signature ability to implant in targets, quickly growing to impede and eventually overtake the victim’s body.

Celestite Longinus

CR 1/2

The skeleton’s head is cocked to the side, pushed by several of the long crystal growths that jut out from its body. They form clustered spines across its back, while similar crystals decorate its bones and encase one hand in a long, sharpened claw. 

When allowed to progress, the crystals’ development usually branches to favor either offense or defense. Whether this dimorphism was a decision made by those who implanted the crystals or perhaps a product of the crystals’ host cannot be said, but the result of it is clear in the variants it creates.

The first of these is the celestite longinus. The longinus’s crystals grow in long spines that protrude from its torso and coat one of the skeleton’s hands. These growths can be released from the central mass at will, arming the longinus with crystalline javelins with which it impales targets, crystalizing them before they can ever reach their attacker. And should these attacks be overcome and the longinus destroyed, it can forcefully shatter its own crystals in a final act of reprisal.

Celestite Dullahan

CR 1

Crystal grows across the skeleton’s bones in a thick coating, jutting out in clusters and spikes that have displaced its skull and several other bones. These formations are thickest on its arms, one formed into a large spike and the other swallowed by a growth large enough to hide most of the skeleton’s form behind a wall of gleaming blue.

In contrast to piercing spines, the crystals may also grow to enhance the skeleton’s defensive strength, creating a celestite dullahan. These cubic formations coat the guardian in a protective layer and bind one of its arms in a towering shield that the skeleton uses to protect itself and nearby allies. But these advantages are not limited to the defensive, as the guardian’s crystals also enhance its physical strength, allowing it to easily crush or impale targets while holding them at bay.

Celestite Styx

CR 2

The crystal hums unfalteringly with the same icy blue as every other, yet for scarcely a moment, you glimpse something more. And then again. In the soft light, you spy the faint reflection of facial features drifting through the crystal’s lattice, indistinct and repeating, like the suggestion of a crowd of unconscious souls staring back at you.

The celestite styx are repositories of energy that other skeletons draw on for fuel. These inanimate clusters were the shards taken from the original fallen star, which then grew into larger formations that became the center of what are now the crypts. Likely as a result of whatever rituals were once carried out, the styx are brimming with stored life energy that has helped to keep the crypts’ other residents animated. But this same energy seems to have curdled in the many years of stagnant isolation, the restless souls now lashing out hungrily for more lives to join them in their crystalline prison.

Celestite Farbauti

CR 3

A skeleton’s arms hang loosely from a body engulfed in crystalline growth. This stone forms a larger, top-heavy humanoid form, the skeleton encased in its chest between two hulking arms. This colossal mass of crystal glows with cold light as it shifts and moves, individual sections sliding against each other without any perceptible friction.

With enough time, enough fuel, and enough uncontrolled growth, the crystals may swallow their host whole. These rampant formations can result in the creation of a celestite farbauti, a mobile hulk of pure crystal with strength far surpassing its allies. The farbauti is a monster among the skeletons, lacking the driving instructions of its peers and instead seeming to hunt with the sole purpose of spreading the crystals to other living creatures. But this is only one of the farbauti’s curiosities. Keen adventurers may also question its physical makeup, as the farbauti’s crystals do not animate the skeleton, but rather move of their own accord, as if they are more than simply fuel for the skeletons’ undeath… 

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