wizard mound

"Merlin under the hill" refers to the concept of the legendary wizard Merlin being imprisoned beneath a hill by his apprentice, Nimue, a plot point in Lev Grossman's 2024 novel, The Bright Sword.

mound

Encounter Intro

As night falls and the fire crackles low, the mountain looms nearby, its shadow long and heavy. A soft voice drifts through the wind—at first no more than the sigh of branches, then a murmur, then clear words. A plea. A promise. Someone—or something—beneath the hill is whispering to you.

Setup

  • The Burial Hill: A mound beneath the mountain conceals a long-dead wizard, bound in magical sleep.

  • The Sorcelled Camp: A small band of travelers—soldiers, bandits, or wanderers—once camped atop the mound. The wizard seized the chance, twisting their spirits and binding their possessions to maintain his prison’s wards.

  • The Whisper: He paints himself as a victim of “cultists,” urging the party to destroy his captors and set him free.

Running the Encounter

Stage 1 – The Whispering Voice

  • The wizard begins with harmless-sounding requests: “Free me from their lies… strike down the cultists who bound me.”

Stage 2 – The Sorcelled Ones

  • The camp looks abandoned but eerily maintained: tents upright, fires burning low, food uneaten.

  • The “cultists” are ordinary folk under enchantment. Their eyes are dull, their movements mechanical. They fight to defend the hill but without malice.

  • Among their belongings: trinkets, journals, keepsakes. Returning these personal items to their owners’ bodies weakens the wizard’s hold and restores their humanity.

Stage 3 – The Choice

  • If the PCs slay the “cultists”: The wizard instructs them to arrange the bodies facing the four winds, releasing his prison.

  • If the PCs search for another way: They may free the innocents by breaking the enchantment with their personal items, keeping the wizard buried.

  • If they flee or ignore him: The wizard remains bound, though he may whisper again when they least expect it.

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Warhammer has a whole range of excellent minis you can use for the wizard, but I was using this guy from the Freeguild Command.

Background & Inspirations

  • Merlin Under the Hill (The Bright Sword)
    This encounter draws heavily from the retelling in The Bright Sword, where Merlin lies imprisoned beneath a hill, whispering to the living in dreams and quiet hours. He tempts those who pass near, casting himself as victim rather than villain, his voice a lure toward release.

  • Criel Mound, West Virginia (Adena Culture)
    Archaeologists discovered a burial mound where skeletons were interred facing the cardinal directions. This motif inspired the wizard’s ritual request—that the slain “cultists” be laid out to the winds (north, south, east, west). The detail is unsettling, both specific and alien, giving the ritual a sense of authenticity drawn from real-world funerary practices.

  • The Malazan Book of the Fallen (Steven Erikson)
    Erikson’s world features countless sites where ancient, unrelated powers lie buried, half-forgotten but still dangerous. Most notable here is the T’lan Imass barrow outside the city of Darujhistan. The barrow isn’t central to the immediate plot but enriches the setting with depth and menace. This encounter borrows that idea: the wizard beneath the hill isn’t tied to the players’ current quest. He is a piece of deep history—waiting, whispering, irrelevant until the players brush too close.