While reading through the adventure one thing seemed odd.

WARNING! Spoiler!

At the graveyard it is mentioned that performing rites of Morr over fallen PCs will prevent them from rising as Zombies. What immediately came to mind was why there were rising Zombies from their graves in the first place?

After all there IS/was a priest of Morr delivering the last rites to the dead of Stromdorf to prevent such vile things to happen.

Do you have some plausible explanation I can give my players when this comes up during play?

Providing the rites of Morr over the fallen, prevents them from rising because they are freshly slain.

However, unless the evil necromancer is killed, even those who have had the rites of Morr said over them will also eventually rise as undead.

The rites of Morr could be seen as a sort of sand timer, which slowly runs out. Once it has run out, the necromancer has access to the body and can raise it as undead.

..This is in no way based on anything tangibly canon before anyone suggests otherwise, it is just a possible solution to the OPs question..

Thanks

I rationalize it as the evil necromancer's ghost has been percolating in that graveyard (witness the wilting flowers as cue) thus removing Morr's protection. Left long enough, and if that influence not destroyed, a dead PC would be reanimated notwithstanding rites (e.g., if PCs flee and return a coupld of days later, to find their abandoned dead comrades waiting them despite rites.... Terror Check!)

Rob

Perhaps there's a difference between rising up as a zombie in terms of magical occuring in that setting and rising up as one due to the Necromancer, apt at that particular use of magic that somehow circumvents the Rites of Morr?