Barrow of the Flayer (Patreon)

Cut into the hillside behind a circle of menhirs is the Barrow of the Flayer – a stone-reinforced barrow partially hidden by overhanging grasses from the steep hill above. The menhirs themselves give hints as to the origin of the flayer – carvings of tentacles descend from the peaks of the menhirs towards the base, ominous and seeming to reach for those who stand among the stones to examine them.

Steps lead into the two openings of the barrow – a few broad steps into the main entrance, and a series of narrow stairs up into the small natural-looking antechamber on the right. The largest chamber is the only one that sees much use these days as the “druids” of the circle outside will take shelter here from the elements. The statue at the back of the chamber is set before a set of collapsed stones that indicate that this barrow structure was once larger – maybe only a larger chamber here, but potentially a number of further barrows that have collapsed under the weight of the hill. The statue itself is a fairly abstract human form in robes with a staff held fairly tight to the body. A number of traditional sacrifices are found around the base of the statue (grain, candles, herbs for smoking and cooking, a few coins, feathers, etc.)

The deeper chambers are quiet and spider-webbed. The door to the final chamber is a slab of stone similar to the ones holding up the walls and is quite firmly stuck from the pressure of the stones above. Lighting the two small stone braziers on each side of the door makes it shift slowly into the astral, allowing access to the chamber beyond as long as the fires remain lit. The south wall of the final chamber isn’t a barrow per se as it contains no body – instead there is a relief carving of a mind flayer in strange clothes wielding a pair of small smooth boxes. Around the flayer are many very fine symbols in the language of the githzerai that can be used to learn the plane shift spell.

The 1200 dpi versions of the map were drawn at a scale of 300 pixels per square and are 6,000 pixels (20 squares) wide. To use this with a VTT you would need to resize the squares to either 70 pixels (for 5′ squares) or 140 pixels (for 10′ squares) – so resizing the image to either 1,400 pixels wide or 2,800 pixels wide, respectively.

https://dysonlogos.blog/2022/07/04/5rd-barrow-of-the-flayer/