The Ghost Tower

 I don't like to railroad my players. But when you are playing online and you need to prepare maps ahead of time there are only so many options you can give the players. I could go theatre of the mind, or let the players sketch a map on the screen - but I really enjoy making maps. So I try to give the players some options.

This past session started with the players in a Wizard's Lair in the sewers on the town. I knew that the players had already killed all of the monsters in the dungeon and it was just a question as to whether they would find the secret door to the abandoned lair. I was pretty sure this was not going to take long and then the players would get some downtime and start looking for a fresh start. The past few months the players have been involved in several somewhat connected adventures but now most of the loose threads were tied up.

There was still a partially explored dungeon on the one player's recently purchased Inn. But I had a feeling the players were not interested in continuing that exploration. There was a thread from a series of adventures they took part in several months ago - but they had repeatedly not bitten on this thread. So I was pretty sure it was time to start a new story.

In the previous session, we had 5 players. But for this session, I knew we would have only 2 available. Right up until game time there was a new player who wanted to join who had been conversing with me and the other players all week. But he dropped out the day of the session. I had written the introduction to the next adventure as a hook to bring in this new character. So suddenly I found I needed a rewrite. I did the rewrite but I also decided with so few players available it might be a good idea to have a short adventure - one that should take only one session. So I quickly wrote an adventure with a simple map. Using the Ghost Tower location on my town map that the players had never remarked upon before. I figured they could do it in a session (it turns out I was incorrect). I also gave them the hook for the next major story so that they had an option and could pick what they wanted to do.

Session 43: The Ghost Tower

Players: Lakima (Magic-user), Eathwund (Fighter), Alonso (Human Fighter), Domago (Human Cleric NPC), Lantosh (Human Fighter NPC), Fenris (Human Thief NPC).

The party is still in Artanals’ bolthole looking for Lavinia Crane’s spellbooks. But they have run out of places to look. Lakima begins searching the walls for secret passages and he finds one in the wall of one of the caves. Beyond they find some trapped stairs and a cave where it is clear Artanal was living. Amongst the rotted foodstuffs, they find Crane’s spellbooks, a magic pipe, and a small amount of gold. It did not take long for the players to finish off the last adventure.

After leaving the sewers Lakima and Alonso head off to the Chapter House to get cleaned up. Eathwund takes the spellbook to Lavinia Crane with Arthur and Pangs following him. Lavinia gives Eathwund a reward in gold and he gives Arthur and Pangs equal shares. Eathwund also goes and pays Clearwin for the gem they “borrowed” since they no longer have possession of it.

The members of the Company of the Black Dragon take a few days to rest. Then they are told they will be honored in a ceremony at the Castle for saving the town from the blue dragon. At the ceremony, they are honored with the Key to the City (an oversized Brass key). I just threw this in. I had been thinking that after saving the town from an ancient Blue Dragon there should be a reward that brought an increase in Social Status. It also meant I could put the players on edge by putting them in a situation where they could not wear weapons and armor. But I did not throw any conflict at them.

A few days later their old companion Carric visits. He tells them that he needs to get out of town in a hurry. He does not explain exactly the reason but he does tell them that if any elves ask for him they should indicate he went east. Carric leaves them a parting gift. The scrawled journal of Kurt Marshman the right hand of the last Thieve’s master of Edgerton. In the journal, Kurt details how he and the guild master Tinian entered the Ghost Tower. Kurt writes that he trapped Tinian in the tower, leaving him to die. Carric had planned to use the journal to get into the tower himself. But he now has a pressing need to get out of town.

Lakima and Eathwund discuss attempting to get into the Tower with their companions. The Ghost Tower is a local monument. An eighty-foot tall tower that has defied all attempts to enter for as long as anyone can remember. The owner of the tower is long forgotten. Local history says that it was built on the west bank of the river before the town existed.

While planning to enter the tower the next day the party is visited by a group of elves. The elves are led by an Elven ambassador named Wynather. They came to Edgerton guided by a prophecy that declared that the salvation of the lost elven city of Haven rested on “dragon’s wings.” The coincidences of the name of the Company of the Black Dragon and their dealing with the dragon Synastarax convinced Wynather to come and see them. He also asks after Carric and asks if they know of his whereabouts. Lakima mentions that he heard the elf had headed east. Wynather eventually asks the company if they will aid the elves in saving the elven realm of Haven. Once the capital of an elven realm in what is now the King's Wood. It was thought to have been destroyed. But they have discovered that it is trapped in the feywild on the winter side of the realm. The company takes a vote and the decision is to help. The elves leave and Fenris chides them for not setting a price.

The next day Eathwund, Lakima, and Alonso scout out the Ghost Tower. They find that the tower is encased in an impenetrable Wall of Force. But from the journal they know there is a secret entrance to dungeons beneath the tower. While they view the tower some local guards let them know that the keys to the tower are kept in the local guard tower. As friends of the city, they are welcome to borrow the keys and see if they can accomplish what hundreds of thieves and adventurers seemingly have not been able to do. Enter the tower.

Later that day the entire company comes back to the tower. Fenris finds the secret staircase exactly where the journal noted it would be. It leads down to the dungeons. In the first chamber, the exit is blocked by two walls of force. Pulling a lever drops the first wall but the second lever raises the first wall again and they find themselves trapped between two walls of force as acid begins to spray from pipes in the wall. Several of the heroes take damage from the acid spray. The acid begins to flood the space between the two walls and things begin to look desperate. Lakima searches and finds a hidden lever that raises the second wall. They scramble out of the trap. Then a third lever is used to raise the second wall. The acid continues filling the space between.

Acid Trap

The passage leads to another room that looks very similar to the first. They see two walls of force and two levers. In the center of the chamber, the corpse of the master thief Tinian lies just where Kurt abandoned him. Two keys are needed to drop the second barrier and the keyholes are 10 feet apart. Tinian died with the keys to his escape but was unable to turn them at the same time to drop the barrier. The party drops the first barrier. Eathwun and Lakima turn the keys at the same time and the second barrier drops. They exit the chamber and enter a corridor.

In one direction is a small room that appears to be a dead end. A large stone face is mounted on the wall, its mouth gaping open. In the other direction is a long corridor. While the rest of the group waits, Lakima asks Fenris to check the stone face. Fenris enters the chamber and an iron door drops down in the archway behind him. The door proves to be impossible to open. They hear some pounding from the other side and then silence. Lakima casts Aztazibar’s Acrid Finger (I did this spell wrong. The duration is 1 round per level of the caster) and burns a hole in the door but it is too late. Suffocating gas pours out of the chamber and they spot Fenris’ curled-up body on the floor. Lakima drags the body from the chamber and as they watch, the Phoenix Charm around Fenris’ neck vanishes. Fenris coughs and then breaths again as the powerful one-time magic of the charm returns him to the living.

A far more cautious group continues down the corridor. They find a series of pit traps. Some of the traps are open and some are cleverly hidden. While climbing over the traps, Alonso falls in twice. Falling ten feet and landing on metal spikes. Badly injured Alonso manages to climb out of the pits both times after he is tossed a rope. Eventually, the party makes it past four sets of pit traps and they come to another room with a stone face on the wall. A single chest rests in the center of the room. Two alcoves are blocked by force fields. Once holding back a group of reptilian monsters and the other hiding the door to the tower. On the wall is another lever but this one is locked with a noticeable keyhole.

The chest is about to explode

Fenris fails to open the locked chest so the decision is made to smash it open. Lantosh smashes the chest with his ax and there is an explosion that injures Lantosh, Alonso, and Eathwund. A key is tossed across the room. Fenris uses the key on the lever and instead of unlocking the lever the forcefield blocking the monsters rises. The creatures rush out at the adventurers. Lakima casts Charm Monster on one of them successfully. The other monsters rush at the heroes with antennae waving at them. Eathwund strikes one with his magical sword and is horrified when the sword crumbles into shards of rust. The creatures are the dreaded Rust Monsters of legend. Alonso quickly backs away from the creatures. Lantosh attacks one with a staff. Lakima tosses a 10-foot pole to Eathwund. Lakima rushes over to the ominous stone face and reaches into its mouth. In the darkness, his hand finds a key. Running back to the lever he uses the key and it unlocks the lever. Then he pulls down the lever lowering the forcefield that was blocking the door. He grabs for the handle on the door -- and vanishes!

Eathwund, Alonso, and the rest desperately try to keep the rust monsters at bay. Fenris yells that Lakima has vanished. With things looking desperate, first Eathwund and then the rest of the heroes grab the door handle and each vanishes. Teleported somewhere else in the tower?

I used Dungeon Crawl Classics #3: The Mysterious Tower as the basis for the adventure. I removed the original location and just kept the dungeon. I also completely redid the maps.