Undertaker's Shop Battle Map - Launch

Hello Adventurers! It's ‘spooky month’ so I’ve created an Undertaker’s Shop full of coffins, headstones and a basement with a mortuary. I did some basic research and created the layout with a functional business in mind. I’ve written descriptions of the main rooms for the map. The main areas are the Undertaker’s Shop on the main floor and a reception room, which could work as a chapel. There is a Mortuary in the basement with a storeroom and furnace. And there is even an apartment with general living space upstairs. I’ve also added a stable and street outside!

Next Maps

Next week I’d like to create an Ambush point travel map, which will have a few road blockages on it, I’ll supply these as assets (trees, rocks, barricade). It will be a forest/grassland map with some kind of choke point along a road/path. Alts will be tropical, snow and desert. And next month I’ll be working on the Crime Lord’s Hideout with Alligator pit, which should be rather fun ;) And an Old Troll Bridge-themed travel encounter map will come after that.

• Ambush point (Travel encounter map with assets)
  I want to create a wilderness map with a natural choke point that could be used as an ambush point for bandits or monsters. I’ll create some roadblocks as assets as well!
• Crime Lord’s Hideout (with Alligator Pit)
  I’m still trying to think this one through. I imagine some kind of underground location or maybe a kind of hideout. Basically, it's the place for a crime boss to get rid of inconvenient people, bodies and the like.
• Old Troll Bridge
  An old stone bridge over a river or gorge with something living under it. I like the idea of something coming up from below a bridge as the party cross ;)

Map News and Updates

Just a quick note on some new file versions I’ve added to this release as requested by some of you wonderful people. There are now Printable images as well as PDFs. There are also ‘NoTitle’ VTT versions of the map files. Find them all over on the Map List page

I also added a new Snow variant to the City Docks battle map release. The files can be accessed on the downloads page or through the map list.

One of my fellow tabletop creators is currently running a Kickstarter for a cool new 5e Supplement book, its called Riftborne: Champions of the Multiverse and it's well worth a look if you are into epic boss battles and multiverse shenanigans :D (For transparency, this is a referral link, so if you back the Kickstarter through it, I get a small cut).

Thanks so much for your support, I hope my maps are sparking ideas for fun encounters in your games :) That's about it for this release, thanks again! Have a great weekend and as always happy adventuring! Now onto the map notes!

Map Descriptions

Display Area / Shopfront

The Undertaker’s shop smells of pine and incense, its stained wooden floors creak as you enter. Urns, vases with dried flowers, incense holders and all manner of funeral paraphernalia fill the shop's interior. Coffins are on display, resting on brass stands, their cushioned, lace-clad interiors looking surprisingly comfortable. Two doorways lead into the back of the shop, the left door is wooden and closed, while the right one is larger and covered by a red velvet curtain.

Chapel / Reception Room

This room is large and well-lit with candelabras standing in each corner. Two rows of benches sit on either side of a long purple carpet, leading to a raised stage at the far end. Against the far wall is a coffin resting on a table draped in fine cloth. White flowers are arranged around a dark wooden coffin, their pale petals glow in the soft light.

Mortuary

The corridor is shrouded in shadows. Brass lamps attached to the walls give off yellow flickering candlelight. The tiles that cover the floor are chipped and cracked with age, in places stained by unknown substances.

The corridor leads into a large room with wooden tables spaced across the floor. On two of the tables are bodies shrouded in white muslin sheets. Around the edges of the room are tables and benches stacked with medical instruments and jars filled with unknown liquids. To your right, along the wall is a large set of sliding draws, big enough to contain a number of bodies stacked one on another. In the corner of the room is a pair of soot-covered iron doors.

Storeroom

This room is filled with boxes and crates of all sizes, plus a number of coffins stacked in disorganised piles. The only light illuminating this room comes from the corridor. The air is musty, filled with dust and a smell of damp wood.

Notes and Tips

• 30x37 Grid Map
• There are three levels to this map, the Shopfront plus the Chapel. The Basement Mortuary, and the Apartment above.
• I’ve made sure to have multiple ways into each floor. The Shop and Chapel can be accessed from the shop front, the stables and the back street. The basement can be accessed from the back street, the lift and the wooden staircase. The Apartment can be accessed from the staircase, the lift and from the flat roof.
• The lift moves between all floors and is used to transfer bodies and coffins from the basement. It has a little steam-powered engine that runs it (see apartment). However, it could be magical or explained away as some kind of hand-cranked system.
• Ritual on the roof: The lift goes to the top floor for some reason… weird. Why would they need bodies in the apartment? It's almost like they are taking bodies onto the roof and doing evil rituals at night.
• The Last Stand: The flat roof could make a good location for a last stand, fending off a horde of zombies or vampire spawn. Can your party last until dawn?
• Zombie Infestation: The basement has racks where bodies are stored. These bodies have come back to ‘unlife’ and infested the rest of the building. Some survivors have barricaded themselves into rooms. Your party is here to clear the infestation out!

Night of the Wizard: A powerful Wizard has died and his body is being stored in the mortuary. Unfortunately, it turns out he’s been experimenting with wild magic, which is now affecting the entire building. Coffins are turning into mimics, a portal to the Nine Hells has opened in the furnace and the Apartment is now occupied by a rather confused and angry clan of Kobolds.

Variants

As with all my maps, there are Night and Nighttime lit versions.

You get a snow version for those running campaigns in the far north.

And I added in a magic circle because obviously someone will be using that Mortuary to conjure something nasty!