The Keeper of the Unburied
D&D 5e Plot Hook · White Dragon · Restless Dead · Funeral Raids
The Hook
A young white dragon has begun attacking funeral processions throughout a remote valley. It does not pursue fleeing mourners or seize grave goods. Instead, it drives everyone away, lifts the corpse from its bier or coffin, and carries it into the mountains. Two guards have already died trying to stop the raids, and several villages are pooling coin for anyone willing to kill the creature before the next burial.
The attacks began only after a landslide tore open an ancient barrow beneath the valley cemetery. Something inside now causes newly buried corpses to rise within days of interment. The dragon discovered the danger when the first shambling dead wandered into its hunting grounds. Unable or unwilling to destroy the source, it has adopted a brutal solution: steal every fresh body before burial and freeze it deep inside its lair.
The result looks exactly like desecration. Families see a predator stealing their dead, local leaders see a growing threat to funerals, and the dragon sees itself containing a problem that no one else has recognized. Its hoard now includes rows of frost-covered corpses rather than treasure, each preserved well enough that returning them is possible.
Killing the dragon ends the raids immediately, but not the effect beneath the cemetery. Any recovered bodies that are reburied there may still rise, while those left in the lair will eventually thaw if the cold is no longer maintained. The apparent monster is therefore only one part of the crisis—and the only one currently keeping it contained.
Possible Directions
- Investigate the barrow and end whatever is animating the newly buried. The dragon may remain an obstacle, an unwilling ally, or simply a territorial creature whose crude containment bought the valley time.
- Recover the stolen dead and negotiate a new burial practice outside the affected cemetery. Slaying the dragon is still possible, but doing so leaves the party responsible for dozens of preserved corpses and every future funeral.
