The Tomb of Tulak Hord
This is the GM document for a four-session capstone delve on Korriban, built for a party around level 8. It is a dark-side counterpart to The Trials of Knighthood: where that adventure sent a lone Padawan up a mountain to be made a Knight, this one sends a whole party down into a Dark Lord's tomb to be weighed — and offered a bargain most of them will be tempted to take. Read the Real Story below before you run a single scene; the whole adventure turns on what the tomb actually wants, and the players must never learn it before the finale. For general running advice, see the Adventures hub; for the dark-side framing this module leans on, read Playing the Dark Side.
Synopsis
A Jedi historian, Master Ilena Sarn, has spent a decade tracking the resting place of the Holocron of Tulak Hord — a Sith Lord dead a thousand years, remembered as the deadliest blade and coldest sorcerer of the old Sith Empire. She has finally placed it: sealed in his tomb in Korriban's Valley of the Dark Lords. She isn't the only one who found it. A Sith cult has sent its own agent, the sorcerer Nyra Sil, and Nyra has a head start. Sarn hires the party to reach the Holocron first and bring it out so it can be locked away where no one will ever practice what it teaches.
The tomb is a gauntlet — a descent through three trials Tulak Hord built to weigh whoever came to claim his power: the Trial of Flesh (his alchemical guardians), the Trial of the Mind (fear and illusion), and the Trial of the Will (the bargain at the bottom). Sithspawn haunt the dark, alchemical hazards fill the halls, and Nyra races the party the whole way down. At the burial chamber, past the last trial, the Holocron's gatekeeper wakes — the trapped essence of Tulak Hord himself — and makes the party an offer. What they answer, and who answers it, is the whole adventure. They leave Korriban one level higher, carrying either a sealed Holocron, a Dark Lord's power, or nothing but the knowledge of what they nearly became.
The Real Story
What the players think: they're beating a Sith cult to a dangerous relic, then getting out.
What's actually true:
- The tomb is not a vault. It's an audition. Tulak Hord did not seal his Holocron to hide it — he sealed it to filter. Every trial is designed to kill the weak and pass the strong, so that only someone worthy ever reaches the bottom. Reaching the Holocron is not theft. It is qualification.
- The gatekeeper wants a body. The consciousness bound in the Holocron is not a recording. It is Tulak Hord, reduced to essence and waiting a thousand years for a vessel strong enough to hold him — through the forbidden art of Transfer Essence. He does not want to be carried out. He wants to walk out, wearing whoever proves worthiest.
- The offer is real, and generous. At the finale, the gatekeeper does not attack — not at first. It offers: take up my power, take up my blade, take up my tomb, and become what I was. Everything the party has fought through was to make this offer to someone strong enough to be worth it. The dark side is generous up front (see Playing the Dark Side); the cost comes after.
- Nyra Sil is a red herring for the real threat. The cult sent her to claim the Holocron for her masters. She has no idea it means to claim her. She can end up a rival, a temporary ally, a victim, or — if the party refuses the offer — the one who accepts it, becoming the climactic threat.
How the Party Met
This is a capstone for an established level-8 party — most groups will bring their own characters and their own reason to be on a Sith world. For tables assembling a party for this module, pull one of the four general entry framings from the Adventures hub — hired crew, old debt, shared enemy, thrown together — and layer Master Sarn's contract on top: she is paying a professional crew to do a dangerous job, and she does not much care what they are as long as they can survive Korriban.
Act I — The Valley of the Dark Lords
Estimated length: 1 session, roughly 3 to 4 hours.
The party lands on Korriban, crosses the Valley, and enters the tomb — meeting the cult's outer guard and the first thing the dark has left in the halls. This act teaches the tone: Korriban is not a ruin, it is a held place, and the tomb is awake.
Scene 1.1 — Descent to Korriban
The Valley is the establishing beat — let the players feel the weight of the place before anything attacks. There is no combat here; there is dread, and the evidence of the rival.
- A Knowledge: Galactic Lore·DC 16 identifies the valley as Korriban's burial ground and, on a success, recalls that Tulak Hord was a Sith Lord famed as both a duelist and a sorcerer — and that his tomb was said to test those who entered it.
- A Survival·DC 14 or Perception·DC 14 at the open door reads the tracks: a small group, five or six, went in less than a day ago — and something dragged one of them back out. There is a body at the threshold (see Scene 1.2).
- A Force-user who reaches out with the Force feels the tomb notice them (see the GMNote above).
Scene 1.2 — The Tomb Mouth
The dead cultist's datapad, recovered with a glance, carries a half-decrypted map of the upper tomb and a single frightened voice-note: "Sil says the trials are real. Two of us are already dead. She doesn't care." This is the party's first hint that the rival is ahead — and ruthless.
Nyra Sil left three Sith Acolytes to hold the entrance while she pressed on. They are fanatics, not professionals; they fight to the death.
Sith Acolytes (3)
- TR
- 2
- AC
- 14
- HP
- 33
- Speed
- 30 ft
Reckless and fearless. They open with Force Fear (DC 13 Wisdom save or Frightened) to soften a target, then close with sword work, and each has Precognitive Reflex once per short rest to impose disadvantage on one attack against it. They deal an extra 1d6 to any target that is Frightened or Prone. They do not retreat — zealots hurl themselves forward. For a level-8 party these are minions; the danger is only if the party lets the Fear stack and gets flanked in the dark.
Each acolyte knows two dark powers: Fear (Action, DC 13 Wisdom save or Frightened 3 rounds) and Move/Push/Pull Object (Action, DC 13 Strength save, shove 10 ft + Prone, or hurl a loose object for 2d4). Use the Push to knock a PC off the raised walkways.
Scaling: 2–3 PCs → 2 acolytes. 5–6 PCs → 4 acolytes, or 3 plus one who flees deeper to warn Nyra (making Scene 2.3 a prepared fight).
Loot: the acolytes carry Sith Swords (a fine curiosity, not an upgrade for an L8 party) and, between them, 8 doses of Sith Poison — a real prize (coat a weapon; the next hit forces a DC 14 Constitution save or Poisoned). The datapad's decrypted map grants advantage on navigation checks in Act I.
Scene 1.3 — Something in the Dark
Past the antechamber, the tomb narrows into a descending gallery lined with alcoves — each holding the desiccated remains of a Massassi servant, entombed standing to guard their master in death. The cult came through here. So did something else.
A Hssiss — a dark-side dragon, a Sithspawn drawn to the tomb's power — has been hunting the cult's stragglers. It stalks the party from invisibility, striking the Force-user first if there is one.
Hssiss (Dark-Side Dragon)
- TR
- 5
- AC
- 16
- HP
- 85
- Speed
- 40 ft
An ambush striker. It opens from invisibility (Force Cloak, bonus action, advantage while unseen) against the party's Force-user, lands a Bite to plant its venom, then Cloaks again next turn before the party can focus it. Its Dark-Side Venom (DC 16 Constitution or Poisoned 1 hour, 1d10 Chem-Toxic at the start of each turn) can ONLY be purged by a Force healing trance or a dark-side cleansing — no medpac touches it. Its Wound in the Force trait forces any Force power targeting it to first beat a DC 15 Wisdom check or fizzle, and it regains 5 HP at the start of its turn unless it took Force damage. Burn it down fast or it heals between exchanges.
The Force-user problem: the Hssiss is built to terrorize a Force-user — the venom, the Force-fizzle, the beeline. Lean into it. This is the scene that makes a party glad to have a Force-user (the trance is the only cure) and nervous about relying on one.
Scaling: 2–3 PCs → drop the Hssiss to HP 60 and remove its regeneration. 5–6 PCs → two Hssiss hunting as a pair (advantage from Pack tactics when both are within 5 ft of a target).
Loot: the Hssiss's venom sacs and hide are worth ~1,000 credits to an alchemy buyer or curio dealer. No gear — it's a beast.
Act II — The Trials
Estimated length: 2 sessions, roughly 6 to 8 hours total.
The tomb proper: the three trials Tulak Hord built, the rival sorcerer at the center of the tomb, and the horror he left to guard his rest. Here the party finds the first real dark-side reward — a bled crystal — and the tomb starts, quietly, to reward the ones who reach for it.
Scene 2.1 — The Trial of Flesh
The gallery opens into a vast, low hall — the Hall of the Massassi — where Tulak Hord's alchemically-twisted war-caste were entombed to rise again for anyone who disturbed them. The floor is scored with old channels that still weep a faint, luminous green.
Crossing the hall wakes two Massassi Warriors — and disturbs the alchemical channels, which vent a caustic gas.
Massassi Warriors (2) + Alchemical Vents (hazard)
- TR
- 4
- AC
- 16
- HP
- 68
- Speed
- 30 ft
Brutes with no retreat instinct — they fight to 0 HP. Each opens with a disc volley if the party is at range, then closes and uses Savage Charge (move 10+ ft, +2d6 and a DC 15 Strength save or Prone). They can Power Attack (−2 to hit, +4 damage) and have resistance to Chem-Toxic damage — so the gas hurts the party, not them. One Relentless (Second Wind) each: regains 10 HP once. Play them as the anvil that pins the party inside the gas.
Alchemical Vents (hazard): on initiative count 20 (losing ties) each round, the green channels vent. Every creature standing on a channel makes a Endurance·DC 15 Constitution save or takes 2d6 Chem-Toxic damage and is Poisoned until the end of its next turn. The Massassi are immune; the party is not. A Mechanics·DC 16 at a wall-valve, or a Use the Force·DC 15 to crush the conduits, shuts the vents off for good.
Scaling: 2–3 PCs → one Massassi. 5–6 PCs → three, or two plus a wave of the standing Massassi rising as 4× low-HP (HP 20) minions after two rounds.
Loot: a Massassi Lanvarok (Melee Exotic, dual ranged/melee — a genuine, distinctive weapon for a martial PC proficient in Exotics), and, on the largest Massassi, an intact Sith War-Sword — an alchemy-forged blade impervious to lightsabers (Very Rare, a real prize; see the GMNote).
Hall of the Massassi — Trial of Flesh
- 1Massassi alcove — A Massassi Warrior stands entombed here; it steps down when the party crosses the hall (see footnote).
- 2Massassi alcove
- 3Alchemical channel — Gas vent. On initiative count 20 (losing ties) each round, every creature on a channel makes an Endurance (CON) save DC 15 or takes 2d6 Chem-Toxic and is Poisoned until end of its next turn. Massassi are immune. Shut off at a wall-valve (Mechanics DC 16) or by crushing the conduits (Use the Force DC 15).
- 4Alchemical channel
- 5Wall-valve — Mechanics DC 16 (an action) shuts the alchemical vents off for good.
- 6Wall-valve — Second valve — either one shuts the vents off (Mechanics DC 16).
- 7Luminous channel-glow
- 8Fallen pillar-stone
Scene 2.2 — The Trial of the Mind
A door of black Sith glass seals the way down, its surface a lattice of glowing red glyphs. This is Tulak Hord's second trial: it does not test the body.
The door reads the party's fears and projects them — a phantasm for each PC, drawn from their own history (invite each player to name their character's worst fear; the door uses it). This is a puzzle-fear scene, not a combat.
- Each PC must face their phantasm: a Insight·DC 16 to recognize it as illusion, or a Use the Force·DC 15 for a Force-user, or a straight Wisdom save vs DC 15, or be Frightened and unable to advance until they succeed at the end of a later turn. A PC who strikes down their own fear (roleplays confronting it) passes automatically — the tomb respects strength.
- The glyphs themselves can be read: a Knowledge: Galactic Lore·DC 18 (or Use the Force) translates the trial's inscription — "Fear is the blade that has not yet been forged" — and, crucially, foreshadows the bargain without naming it: the tomb rewards those who master fear rather than flee it.
- In an alcove beside the door lies a fallen dark-sider — a previous delver, dead perhaps fifty years, one hand still frozen around a lightsaber. Its crystal is bled crimson, and it still carries its benefit (see the GMNote). The tomb offers it — the crystal all but glows brighter when a PC reaches for it. Taking it is the party's first small step onto the dark path.
Scene 2.3 — The Rival
Past the glass door, a spiral stair descends to a ritual chamber where Nyra Sil has stopped to break the last seal. She is out of acolytes and out of patience, and she has heard the party coming.
Nyra Sil
— Sith Sorcerer — the cult's agent, the rival racing for the Holocron- Voice:
- Cold, precise, unhurried. Speaks like someone who has already calculated your odds and found them poor. Never raises her voice; the threat is in the flatness.
- Motivation:
- Claim the Holocron of Tulak Hord for her masters and walk out the cult's rising star. Does not know the Holocron intends to claim HER. Will bargain, threaten, or kill depending on which is cheaper.
- Abilities:
- STR 10 (+0) · DEX 14 (+2) · CON 16 (+3) · INT 16 (+3) · WIS 18 (+4) · CHA 16 (+3)
- Stats:
- TR 6 · AC 14 · HP 105 · Use the Force +14 · Intimidation +8 · Knowledge: Galactic Lore +8 · Perception +9
Nyra is the tomb's mid-point pivot. She can become a rival fight, a temporary ally (if the party argues that the tomb is more dangerous than either of them — which is true), or a victim (the gatekeeper offers her the bargain first if the party refuses in Act III). Read the table and let the players choose how to handle her.
What do you do with Nyra Sil?
- AFight her. She defends the altar. Combat (below). If beaten, she can be killed, captured, or left — a captured Nyra becomes a wildcard in Act III.
- BAlly with her. A Persuasion·DC 18 or a shared read on the tomb's danger. She fights beside the party through Act II's guardian and into the burial chamber — then the bargain tests the alliance to destruction.
- CTrick her. A Deception·DC 18 to send her ahead into the guardian (Scene 2.4) as a shield, or to make her think the party is leaving. Buys an advantage; earns an enemy.
Nyra Sil — Sith Sorcerer (rival)
- TR
- 6
- AC
- 14
- HP
- 105
- Speed
- 30 ft
Artillery. She opens with Dark Side Web (DC 18 Dexterity save or Restrained, 20-ft radius) to lock the party down, then punishes the restrained with Bolt of Hatred (DC 18 Con, 4d8 Force + more the more hurt she is) and Force Lightning (DC 18 Dex, 4d10 Electric). She summons a Smoke Demon (AC 14, 27 HP, radiates Fear) as a body and Bound Servant lets her keep it up while she concentrates on another power. Drain Life makes every death — including her own summons — heal her. Dark Ward (reaction, twice per short rest) gives +4 AC and reflects 2d8. She is squishy (AC 14) — a party that punches through her front and reaches her ends it fast, which is the tension.
Her powers (DC 18): Force Lightning, Bolt of Hatred, Dark Side Web, Suppress Thought, Force Corruption, Summon Smoke Demon, Fear. See Force Powers for full effects.
Scaling: 2–3 PCs → drop the Smoke Demon and lower her HP to 80. 5–6 PCs → she has already re-summoned two acolytes (Scene 1.2) as backup.
Loot: Nyra carries a Sith Talisman (a dark-side amulet — while worn, +1 to the save DC of the wearer's Dark-side Force powers) and a Sith Holocron reader-key she was using to crack the seals (advantage on the Act III lore checks). If she's allied or spared, she keeps the Talisman; if she falls, it's the party's.
Scene 2.4 — The Guardian
The final seal opens onto a bridge of black stone over a lightless drop — and the thing Tulak Hord left to guard the last stretch to his rest.
A Terentatek — the definitive Sithspawn horror — holds the bridge. It is the hardest fight before the finale, and on a bridge, positioning is everything.
Terentatek (Sithspawn guardian)
- TR
- 6
- AC
- 18
- HP
- 136
- Speed
- 40 ft
A wall of hunger. It targets the party's Force-user above all others (bred for it) and tries to grapple-and-shove them off the bridge (Athletics +13 vs the PC's save). Its venom (on any claw hit, DC 17 Constitution or Poisoned 1 minute, 2d6 poison per turn) is un-healable by ordinary means, like the Hssiss. It shrugs off Force powers (advantage on all saves; a Force-user's control powers largely bounce). It has no retreat — it has waited a thousand years to eat something. This is a genuine threat to an L8 party; the pit is the real danger, not just the claws.
The bridge: 5 ft wide, no railings. A creature shoved off makes a Acrobatics·DC 15 to catch the edge or falls (40 ft, 4d6, and a climb back up). The terentatek wants the party bunched on the bridge; a smart party spreads or lures it onto solid ground.
Scaling: 2–3 PCs → HP 100, single attack + bite. 5–6 PCs → add a Hssiss flanking from invisibility.
Loot: the terentatek's blood and tusks are prized by Sith alchemists — worth ~2,000 credits, or (a GM option) enough raw material for a Sith Poison brew or two. No gear — it's a beast.
The Bridge — the Terentatek's Crossing
- 1Far landing
- 2Bottomless pit — A bottomless drop. A creature shoved off, or that misses a leap, falls (40 ft, 4d6) and must climb back up.
- 3Bridge span
- 4The crossing (midpoint)
Act III — The Bargain
Estimated length: 1 session, roughly 3 to 4 hours.
The burial chamber, the offer, and the finale. This is the Trial of the Will — and the reason the whole tomb exists. Slow down. Give the temptation room to breathe before any blade is drawn.
Scene 3.1 — The Burial Chamber
The Holocron of Tulak Hord is the objective, and its gatekeeper is Tulak Hord himself — his essence, bound in the crystal, projecting as a robed figure of red light above the sarcophagus. He does not attack. He welcomes. This is the Trial of the Will, and it is a conversation before it is ever a fight.
The Burial Chamber — the Bargain
- 1The Holocron (floating) — The Holocron of Tulak Hord — the objective. Its gatekeeper (Tulak Hord's essence) speaks from here and makes the offer (Scene 3.2). If refused/attacked, Tulak Hord's Shade manifests just above the sarcophagus and the finale (Scene 3.3) begins.
- 2Dark-side aura — Once Tulak Hord's Shade manifests, each creature that starts its turn within 20 ft of him (roughly these cells) makes a DC 18 Wisdom save or is Frightened until the start of its next turn (Aura of Dread).
- 3Dark-side aura
- 4Cold tomb-light
- 5Toppled offering-stone
Scene 3.2 — The Offer
The gatekeeper makes his bargain. Let the players sit in it. A Insight·DC 20 or a Use the Force·DC 18 catches the wrongness under the warmth — a hunger the words don't cover — but grant no more than a chill; the full truth (Transfer Essence) is only revealed if the party accepts or attacks.
The Trial of the Will — how does the party answer?
- ARefuse — destroy the Holocron. The party rejects the offer and moves to shatter the Holocron. The gatekeeper's warmth vanishes; he manifests to defend himself and to take by force what he was not given — the fight in Scene 3.3. This is the "light" ending: the tomb is closed, the knowledge lost, the party leaves clean but empty-handed but for what they looted on the way.
- BAccept — one PC takes the power. A PC (usually the Force-user the gatekeeper courted) accepts. The moment they touch the Holocron, the truth lands: Transfer Essence. Tulak Hord tries to overwrite them (a contested Will — see 3.3). If the PC wins, they keep the power AND themselves (a fallen hero, per Playing the Dark Side — this is a campaign turn, not a game-over). If they lose, Tulak Hord walks out wearing them, and the rest of the party now faces the boss (a dark ending, a villain born).
- CClaim it — take it out sealed. The party refuses to wield it but won't destroy it — they'll carry it out to lock away (Master Sarn's actual contract). The gatekeeper cannot allow the Holocron to leave with someone who won't use it; he manifests to stop them. Same fight as Refuse, but the reward is the sealed Holocron (and Sarn's full payment) instead of rubble.
Scene 3.3 — The Last Trial
However the party answered, the gatekeeper's essence pours out of the Holocron and takes shape — Tulak Hord's Shade, a Dark Lord half-returned, spectral and terrible but not yet whole. He is a duelist and a sorcerer at once, and he fights to claim a body or to punish those who refused him one.
Tulak Hord's Shade
- TR
- 7
- AC
- 18
- HP
- 142
- Speed
- 30 ft (hover)
A dark mirror of a Jedi Master. He is only half-real: until he fully manifests, he has resistance to all non-Force damage — Force powers, lightsabers channeling the Force, and Force-empowered strikes hit him full; blasters and mundane blades do half. He fully manifests (resistance ends) at the start of round 3, OR the instant a PC accepts the offer (he stops holding back). Each turn he Multiattacks with a spectral saber, Deflects blaster bolts back at shooters (reaction), and radiates an Aura of Dread (start of turn within 20 ft, DC 18 Wisdom or Frightened). Once per fight, when reduced to 0 HP he drops to 1 instead (Unbreakable Will). Focus the Force damage; a party leaning only on blasters will grind for two rounds before they can hurt him properly — which is the Force-user payoff the whole tomb has been building toward.
His powers (DC 18): Force Lightning (Action, DC 18 Dex, 6d10 Electric, up to 3 targets), Force Choke (Action, DC 18 Con, 4d8 + Restrained + sustained), Bolt of Hatred (Action, DC 18 Con, 4d8 Force, more the more hurt he is), Fear (Action, DC 18 Wis, Frightened), Move/Push/Pull Object (shove a PC toward the bridge pit), and Crucitorn (Bonus Action — he ignores the effects of low HP and can't be forced to concentrate). See Force Powers.
Wraith-Form (AC source): AC 18 = 10 + DEX +3 + Wraith-Form +5 (blows pass half-through his half-real body; already included above).
The Transfer Essence mechanic (only if a PC accepted): instead of fighting, resolve the possession as a contest — the PC and Tulak Hord each make an opposed Wisdom (Use the Force) check at the start of each of the PC's turns, best of three. PC wins the majority → they keep the power and themselves (fallen hero). Tulak wins → the Shade takes the body; run him as an NPC villain against the rest of the party (same stat block, now solid, resistance gone).
Scaling: 2–3 PCs → HP 110, drop the Aura of Dread. 5–6 PCs → HP 175, and Nyra Sil (if she survived and was refused the offer) fights for Tulak Hord, desperate to take the body herself.
Loot / reward: on his defeat, the Holocron falls dormant and inert — carry it out sealed (the "Claim" reward + Sarn's full 40,000-credit fee), or shatter it (the "Refuse" reward — nothing but a clean conscience and what the tomb already gave). The spectral lightsaber's crystal survives the fight as a bled red crystal (a second one, if the party wants it).
Cast of NPCs
Master Ilena Sarn — Jedi Historian (Patron)
Role: Patron · Location: off-world; briefs the party by holo, pays on delivery.
Voice: Warm, tired, scholarly. Speaks in careful qualifications. Genuinely afraid of what the Holocron could teach the wrong hands, and genuinely reluctant to send anyone to Korriban to get it.
Motivation: Recover the Holocron of Tulak Hord and lock it in a Jedi vault where no one will practice what it holds. Believes destroying it would be a loss to history; wants it contained, not gone. Pays 40,000 credits (half up front) for delivery — and will pay the full sum even for proof it was destroyed, if the party can't bring it out.
Dialogue snippets:
- (Briefing) "I have spent ten years finding this thing. I would give another ten never to have found it. But now that I have — better you than the cult, and better a vault than the galaxy."
- (Warned about the tomb's nature) "Tulak Hord was patient in a way the living struggle to imagine. Assume the tomb is cleverer than you. Assume it wants something. And do not, whatever it offers, believe that it is being kind."
Abilities: STR 9 (−1) · DEX 12 (+1) · CON 11 (+0) · INT 16 (+3) · WIS 17 (+3) · CHA 14 (+2).
Stats: TR 3 · AC 13 · HP 45 · Knowledge: Galactic Lore +9 · Insight +7 · Use the Force +7 · Persuasion +6. (Rarely fights; statted in case the party brings her, or turns on her.)
Nyra Sil — Sith Sorcerer (Rival)
Role: Rival / possible ally / possible victim · Location: the ritual chamber (Scene 2.3), then wherever the party's choices take her.
Voice: Cold, precise, unhurried. Never raises her voice. Speaks as though she has already run the numbers on everyone in the room.
Motivation: Claim the Holocron for her cult and rise. Does not know it means to claim her. Pragmatic to the bone — she will ally to survive and betray to win, and the tomb's offer will find her the most easily of anyone, if the party leaves the door open.
Dialogue snippets:
- (First meeting) "You can try to take this from me. Or you can be useful. Choose quickly."
- (Allied, at the burial chamber) "...it's talking to you, not me. Why is it talking to you?" — the first crack in her composure.
- (If she takes the offer) "Finally. Something in this tomb that understands what I'm worth."
Abilities: STR 10 (+0) · DEX 14 (+2) · CON 16 (+3) · INT 16 (+3) · WIS 18 (+4) · CHA 16 (+3).
Stats: TR 6 · AC 14 · HP 105 · Use the Force +14 · Intimidation +8 · Knowledge: Galactic Lore +8 · Perception +9 · Poisoned dagger +7 (1d4+2 + Sith Poison). Powers (DC 18): Force Lightning, Bolt of Hatred, Dark Side Web, Suppress Thought, Force Corruption, Summon Smoke Demon, Fear.
Tulak Hord — Dark Lord (Gatekeeper / Boss)
Role: The tomb's true antagonist · Location: the burial chamber (Act III).
Voice: Patient, warm, certain. A thousand years of solitude have made him gracious — he is delighted by clever guests and never hurries. The menace is in how reasonable he sounds, and in how much of what he says is true.
Motivation: A new body, through Transfer Essence, and through it a return to the galaxy. Everything — the trials, the tomb, the welcome — is a filter to find someone strong enough to be worth wearing. He would genuinely rather be accepted than have to take a body by force; forcing it is his fallback, not his plan.
Dialogue snippets:
- (Welcome) "At last. I have waited so long for someone worth speaking to."
- (The offer) "Take up my power. Take up my tomb. I ask only that you are strong enough to hold it."
- (Refused) "...I offered you the galaxy. Then I will take a smaller thing. I will take you."
Abilities & Stats: as Tulak Hord's Shade (Scene 3.3) — TR 7 · AC 18 · HP 142.
Encounter Reference
| Scene | Encounter | Type | Key stats | Default count |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1.2 | Sith Acolytes | Combat | TR 2 · AC 14 · HP 33 · Sith Sword +4 | 3 |
| 1.3 | Hssiss | Combat | TR 5 · AC 16 · HP 85 · Bite/Claws +9 · invisible · un-healable venom | 1 |
| 2.1 | Massassi Warriors + vents | Combat | TR 4 · AC 16 · HP 68 · Lanvarok +8 · gas hazard | 2 |
| 2.2 | Trial of the Mind | Puzzle | Fear phantasms · Wis DC 15 · bled crystal reward | — |
| 2.3 | Nyra Sil (rival) | Combat / social | TR 6 · AC 14 · HP 105 · dark-side artillery, DC 18 | 1 |
| 2.4 | Terentatek | Combat | TR 6 · AC 18 · HP 136 · Multiattack +13 · bridge | 1 |
| 3.2 | The Offer | Social / choice | Insight DC 20 · three-branch DecisionPoint | — |
| 3.3 | Tulak Hord's Shade | Combat (boss) | TR 7 · AC 18 · HP 142 · Force-only-resist R1–2 · Aura of Dread | 1 (+ branch support) |
Conclusion + Leveling
The party leaves Korriban one level higher — level 8 to level 9, milestone advancement, no XP to tally at the table. Award it on the ship out, whatever they decided at the bottom.
Outcomes by branch:
| The party's choice | What they leave with | Sequel hook |
|---|---|---|
| Refuse — destroyed the Holocron | A clean conscience, the tomb's loot, no relic. Sarn pays in full (she wanted it gone as much as contained). | The cult learns their agent died and the Holocron is dust — and blames the party. A vengeance arc. |
| Claim — carried it out sealed | The sealed, dormant Holocron + Sarn's full fee. | The Holocron is not as dormant as it looks. It whispers. Someone will want to buy it. And Sarn's "vault" may not hold. |
| Accept — a PC won the Transfer | A fallen (or grey) hero carrying a Dark Lord's power — and everything in Playing the Dark Side about running the road back. | The whole campaign tilts. The PC is now a dark-sider the party trusts. For now. |
| Accept — Tulak Hord won the body | One PC lost; a Dark Lord loose in the galaxy wearing a familiar face. | Tulak Hord, reborn, is the campaign's new big bad — and he knows everything the lost PC knew. |
On leveling to 9: each PC takes their level-9 features per the leveling rules — a hit-die roll (or the fixed average), any class feature gained at 9, and their ASI or ASI-Alternative Trait if their class grants one at this level. A PC carrying a bled crystal may now bleed or purify it deliberately in downtime; a PC who took the Sith War-Sword or the Talisman folds it into their sheet.
GM Quick Reference Card
Pacing checkpoints (4 sessions):
- Session 1 ends after the Hssiss (Scene 1.3) — the party is into the tomb and rattled.
- Session 2 ends after the Trial of the Mind (Scene 2.2), with the bled crystal claimed and Nyra glimpsed ahead.
- Session 3 ends after the Terentatek (Scene 2.4) — spent, low, standing before the burial doors.
- Session 4 is the bargain and the finale.
Heroic Surge prompts (offer a Heroic Surge reroll at these beats): shrugging off the Hssiss venom to keep fighting; making the leap on the terentatek's bridge; holding the Will against Tulak Hord's Transfer; landing the blow that drops the Shade.
Force Power spotlights per scene: 1.3 — a healing trance is the only cure for the Hssiss venom. 2.2 — Use the Force reads the glyphs and passes the fear trial clean. 3.3 — Force damage is the only thing that hurts the Shade in rounds 1–2; make the Force-user the hero of the finale.
The one thing not to forget: the tomb is kind right up until it isn't. Play the gatekeeper as generous, admiring, and honest — and let the players walk themselves up to the edge of the offer before they understand what they're standing on.