Just a historical tidbit for those DM's who like such things and wish to add realistic flavor to the violation at the Lands' farm.
In days of yore, the dishonorable grave robbers would NOT dig up the entire grave, as shown in movies. They only dug a hole at the head of the grave large enough for the digger to wield his shovel. When they reached the coffin, the exposed portion of the lid was pried up and snapped off. A rope was run under dear old grandma's back and up under her arms. Then she was "snaked out" of the hole by the robbers pulling on the other end. The chunk of lid was tossed back down and the small hole filled back up. Then, off to the pub by way of the physician's office to pick up some cold coin in exchange for the putrid fruit of their labor.
Thanks for the info Katana, but mightn't the PCs miss the violated graves alltogether if they don't look like they've been violated? Just a thought.
Just a historical tidbit for those DM's who like such things and wish to add realistic flavor to the violation at the Lands' farm.
In days of yore, the dishonorable grave robbers would NOT dig up the entire grave, as shown in movies. They only dug a hole at the head of the grave large enough for the digger to wield his shovel. When they reached the coffin, the exposed portion of the lid was pried up and snapped off. A rope was run under dear old grandma's back and up under her arms. Then she was "snaked out" of the hole by the robbers pulling on the other end. The chunk of lid was tossed back down and the small hole filled back up. Then, off to the pub by way of the physician's office to pick up some cold coin in exchange for the putrid fruit of their labor.
I think Kullen lacks the patience for this delicate labour. That's how I'll explain their actions, anyway.
It wasn't that the grave robbers were being delicate. Quite the opposite. They were lazy and in a hurry. It takes a lot less effort and time to use the method described than to dig up the whole coffin. This would be a lesson quickly learned by even the dimmest robber. The chaps doing the pilfering weren't brainiacs.
Would it not be kind of hard to do this when the body is nothing but a skeleton?
A skeleton would be more of a treasure hunt than a loop and lift but the entry method would be the same.
The way I'll do it is say Kullen and friends did it as explained here, but did it in a hurry. With a DC 12 search check the party can geet an idea that the graves have been disturbed. If they fail to notice, when they go back expecting to find their door open they'll instead be met by a piffed ghost wanting an explination why they came back without doing what he asked.