Amidst the trees, almost so subtle you cannot tell them for works of man, are seven large burial mounds; six in a ring, with the seventh in the middle.  Trees grow around and upon the mounds, which are heavily choked by thorns, so much so that the trees seemingly writhe in their grasp.  Granite lintels and doorjambs - some partially collapsed - are weathered with the passage of ages, but one can still make out the runes of the Seliseni tongue, used by the great Founders’ Empire of the elder days, a language known now only by scholars and wizards.  The entrances themselves are blocked with slabs of basalt, cracked, weathered and partially sealed in by soil and undergrowth, but they can be cleared out and opened with just a little labor.  

The resulting doorways are small, and a human would have to go through on his hands and knees at best.  An earthen tunnel averaging a dozen feet long - and filled with the vermin one can normally expect of such places - leads to a broad chamber, lined with brick and sagging with the weight of ages, high enough to be able to stand.  In the center of the chamber is a rough-hewn basalt catafalque, side-to to the entrance, with a desiccated mummy on top.  And a spirit materializes, all swirling shapes in the darkness, and speaks ...

The heavily-wooded province of Donengil, northernmost of the Founders’ Empire - fallen these four thousand years ago - was governed by seven “Forest Lords.”  In the days of the Empire’s ruin, Donengil survived just a little longer, as chaos and war ripped the Empire’s corpse to bloody shreds, but shorn of commerce, its people fell quickly into a subsistence economy.  The privations suffered by its folk opened the door to one of the darker so-called Pariah Gods, Moralis the Sorrower, Lord of pain and anguish.  Slowly He poisoned the minds of the Forest Lords, and torn apart from within, Donengil failed to outlast the Empire by as much as a generation.  The crude burial mounds of the Forest Lords were the best the handful of survivors of the province’s capitol could manage, before they vanished into the trees; all the other works of the city are long vanished.

Yet Moralis’ influence remains in the barrows.  Each Lord is undead now, fixed to their individual catafalques.  Once a living person breaks the plane of the central chamber - and a powerful unseen force will prevent more than one living person at a time from doing so - the Lord’s disembodied spirit will materialize.  The spirit will be translucent and in black-and-white, and clad in a formless, shifting, hooded robe.  No facial features can be seen, and the hands are folded into the sleeves.  Each spirit will say “My name is {spirit’s name} and I am dead” in a soft, raspy voice.  After a pause, it will launch into its individual soliloquy.  It will neither answer questions, repeat the soliloquy, or interact with the characters in any other fashion, and characters trying to talk over its voice may drown it out.

The soliloquy launches a test, individualized to each barrow and set by Moralis.  Characters can ignore the test by leaving the central chamber, but no other test in any other barrow will start until it is successfully met.  No character may take more than one test until all other characters have had at least one turn.  The nature of the barrier - it is proof against sound, force, magic and missiles - precludes more than one character from meeting each test, although if a character dies in the course of the test, the barrier will permit a replacement through.  The only clue beforehand is the word attached to each barrow, the one engraved on the exterior lintel in Seliseni.

Once a task is overcome, the spirit sighs with relief and dissipates; at that point, the barrier preventing other characters from entering the central chamber will also dissipate.  All that is left behind - with the exception of only one barrow - is the wrapped mummy, which will crumble to ancient dust if touched.  On the head of each mummy is a thin, fragile golden circlet, which will visibly resize to the head of the character succeeding in the test as people gaze at it.  If a character reaches to take it, a voice sounds, “Nothing is freeeee ...”  

Each circlet has its own enchantment, but it is also tainted by the hand of Moralis.  The owner (it is not necessary to wear the circlet) will become more callous and indifferent to the suffering of others over a span of months, although not so much as to provoke questions as to changed personalities.  The taint is not detectable by anything short of strong divine power, but will wear off if the owner permanently relinquishes the circlet, over a course of years.

Justice: “My name is Tayesha and I am dead.  I was the lawgiver for my people.  Two mothers came before me with a child they both claimed was theirs, for one child died and they were placed together.  But the Spirit whispered in my ear, and I lawspoke that the child should be slain since the thing could not be proved.  My conduct gave great distress to the people.  Thus I did the work of the Pain Lord.”

The task: to retry the case, in effect.  Ghosts of the two mothers (Aine & Varra) will appear to plead their case.  Neither know the father, both gave birth - during the same holiday festival to a hazel eyed boy, both breast fed and with their gums rubbed with herbs.  The ghost of the child is between them, swaddled in a yellow silk cloth.  All are intangible, but either Aine, Verra or Tayesha can touch the child, and will remove the cloth if asked.  (If the Mercy barrow is attempted first, characters will note that the ghost child here does not have a cursed mark.)  For purposes of “solving” the test, any judgment the character makes will suffice ... although, if the GM elects, certain choices might invoke a tangible air of impending doom.

The circlet: It is set with a vivid emerald, and grants the wearer a bonus to detect lies.

Mercy: “My name is Sethana and I am dead.  I was the healer for my people.  The Spirit whispered in my ear, and I went from wounded woman to feversick man, drawing out the treatments so all could be healed, I said.  But this was so that more could suffer longer.  Thus I did the work of the Pain Lord.”

The task: The baby cited in the previous barrow lives again - and obviously, the significance of this won’t be grasped if this barrow is tackled before Justice - out of time, out of place, the plain mark of a curse on his chest.  The baby is tangible, living and will grow up as normally as any other child; his disposition is up to the party, of course.  For purposes of “solving” the test, anything the character chooses to do - up to and including killing or abandoning the baby - will suffice.

The circlet: It is set with a row of onyx beads, and grants the wearer either an instinctive knowledge of basic first aid, or if the wearer knows healing magics, a bonus to cast them.

Valor: “My name is Destandasa and I am dead.  I was the battleleader for my people, and I taught the young to stand strong and tall in the fight.  But the Spirit whispered in my ear, and I taught them that shields and armor were the implements of cowards.  And so many died in anguish when the Unlife came.  Thus I did the work of the Pain Lord.”

The task: The barrow fills with corporeal zombies.  Provide enough to make a very difficult challenge for the character.

The circlet: It is set with a vivid sapphire, and grants the wearer a bonus to morale in battle.

Endurance: “My name is Hakyawa and I am dead.  I was the tester for my people, and I devised tests of pain and endurance to toughen them and make them strong.  But the Spirit whispered in my ear, and I made the tests harder and put torment into them, so that they screamed in their anguish and their parents also.  Thus I did the work of the Pain Lord.”

The task: The character must walk along a suddenly materializing path of embers, naked (such clothing as he has vanishing, to appear outside the barrow) with slivers of burning pine pitch shot from nowhere into his bare flesh.  He cannot run, and must stroll at a moderate pace.  If he succeeds (or dies trying) he will rematerialize inside the barrow; his wounds remain.

The circlet: It is inset with lines of jade, and grants the wearer a bonus to long term endurance, such as in hiking, climbing or common labor.

Thought: “My name is Twerepa and I am dead.  I was the teacher for my people.  But the Spirit whispered in my ear.  So I taught the people to follow only the sayings of old, and to pay no heed to new learning or new ideas.  So it was that the young perished for want of keen thought.  Thus I did the work of the Pain Lord.”

The task: to answer a series of riddles.  (I admit to a fondness for old Anglo-Saxon ones, and submit three of my favorites below.)  At the first wrong guess, a zombie appears to attack the character.  At the second wrong guess, two zombies appear.  At the third, three, and so on.  Characters may make as many wrong guesses as they can overcome the zombies.  If he guesses right, the spirit will speak the next riddle in order, requiring the character answer no more than three in all.
 
The rolling hills, the heart that beats forever,
The land that never changes, never stills;
Ploughed by travelers far from home, not planted;
White in anger, green in peace, and always blue.

My head was hammered into shape, scarred by sharp chisels,
Scoured by a file. I swallow what faces me; Wearing a ring,
I thrust firmly against a hard object. I strain at what stands
Between my lord and his destination;
At times my foe guards gold. What now am I?

A harvest sown and reaped on the same day
In an unplowed field, which increases without growing;
Remains whole though it consumes within and without;
Is useless and yet the staple of nations.

The circlet: It is set with a small yellow diamond, and grants the wearer a maximum of one intuitive flash a day (wholly at the GM’s discretion) between competing choices.

Skill: “My name is Tenayoga and I am dead.  I was the crafter of my people and I fashioned tools and arms and needful things.  But the Spirit whispered in my ear, and I saw that I used too much of our goodly things to make the tools.  So I worked with less metal and sinew and weaker wood and more brittle stone, and that which I fashioned failed the people in their need.  Thus I did the work of the Pain Lord.”

The task: The character is surrounded by seven mechanical traps, and must disarm or bypass them all to succeed.

The circlet: It is set with a sparkling ruby, and grants the wearer a bonus to non-combat tasks requiring fine manual dexterity.

Duty: “My name is Mirolena and I am dead.  I was the leader and the grandmother of my people, and I would not listen to the Spirit, for the Spirit spoke lies and sowed mistrust.  But I failed to see the Spirit sink its venom into the souls of my closest friends, believed no warnings that this was so, and would think no ill of my friends.  Thus I did the work of the Pain Lord.”

The task: to defeat a demon of the Outer Dark.  It is in a bear-like chaos form, shifting regularly, and will attack the character savagely, having the rough stats of a giant bear in your game system.  There is a horrific spiritual aura around the creature, and it will provoke a morale check, fright check or sanity check, depending on your system.

The circlet: It is set with a large white opal, and grants the wearer a bonus to resist attempts to influence him by magical means.

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