12 Peculiar Towers.pdf

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P
eculiar
owers
T
12
BY JEFF LEE
C
ontents
The Old Marblehead Lighthouse ..........................2
The Midnight Tree ..................................................7
Usurper’s Tower ................................................... 13
Raganni’s Redoubt ............................................... 18
Ruins of Grimspire .............................................. 25
Respite at Rough Run.......................................... 30
Solanna Bael ......................................................... 35
The Guildmaster’s Retreat .................................. 39
Spire of the Sun God ........................................... 45
Stormcaller’s Tower ............................................. 51
Bloodstone Tower ................................................ 56
Court of the Lunar Knight ................................. 62
C
redits
Design:
Jeff Lee
Editor:
Meagan Maricle
Cover Art:
M. Wayne Miller
Interior Art:
Bruno Balixa, Gabriel Cassata, Marcel Mercado,
William O’Brien, Brian Syme, Eric Quigley
Cartography:
Tommi Salama
Art Director & Graphic Designer:
Marc Radle
Publisher:
Wolfgang Baur
Midgard and Kobold Press are trademarks of Open Design. All rights reserved.
Product Identity:
The following items are hereby identified as Product Identity, as defined in the Open Game License
version 1.0a, Section 1(e), and are not Open Content: All trademarks, registered trademarks, proper names (characters,
place names, new deities, etc.), dialogue, plots, story elements, locations, characters, artwork, sidebars, and trade dress.
(Elements that have previously been designated as Open Game Content are not included in this declaration.)
Open Game Content:
The Open content in this adventure includes the new monsters and new magic items. All other
material is Product Identity, especially place names, character names, locations, story elements, and fiction. No other
portion of this work may be reproduced in any form without permission.
ISBN: 978-1-936781-96-6
©2018 Open Design. All rights reserved.
www.koboldpress.com
t
he
o
Ld
M
arbLehead
L
ighthouse
A SCENARIO FOR FOUR 1ST LEVEL CHARACTERS
ADVENTURE BACKGROUND
The lighthouse on Marblehead Point was built nearly
two centuries ago, when the town of Northwatch was
just a military fort and trading post. When an increase
in piracy forced the town to abandon the lighthouse,
merchants started taking longer but safer overland
routes to get goods in and out of the city. Meanwhile,
the lighthouse keeper, whose livelihood was worsened
by such conditions, accepted an offer from a group of
smugglers.
The smugglers would bring goods in by ship to a
cave hidden in the cliffs below the lighthouse. The
lighthouse keeper would then sneak them into town
when he made supply runs. A few years later, the old
man died, leaving no one to provide signals to the
smugglers when it was safe to approach. The lighthouse
was left to the elements, and the sea cave below was
forgotten. The royal navy eventually dealt with the
pirate problem and, over the years, have reduced the
pirates’ numbers enough that trade can resume.
•
Bats can be seen flying from the Marblehead
peninsula in the evening and returning in the early
morning.
in the old lighthouse. He was never seen again.
•
A boastful trapper was once dared to spend the night
•
Some locals believe the lighthouse is the lair of a
group of goblin bandits that harass travelers on the
coast road, but the local authorities work to squash
this false rumor.
helping them sneak in goods to avoid tariffs.
•
The last lighthouse keeper worked with smugglers,
While the spirit of the lighthouse keeper does linger in
the old tower, most of the reported haunting is the result
of a new resident in the sea caves below the lighthouse.
A former sailor, now a mad aberrant acolyte of
aboleths, has set up his lair in the caves, hoping to form
a cult to worship the aberrations below the waves. He
uses tricks and simple magics to scare away the curious
while he scouts the nearby environs for likely recruits.
ADVENTURE HOOKS
With law restored at sea, the town is refitting their
merchant vessels and preparing for newfound trade
and prosperity. The mayor wishes to restore the old
lighthouse, if possible, or tear it down and build a new
one, if not. She has hired the PCs to explore the old
building, eliminate any threats there, and report back
on the state of the place. She promises each PC 100 gp
compensation for their time and effort.
PCs looking for information on the old lighthouse
can learn the following rumors while conversing with
the locals.
•
The lighthouse is haunted. Strange lights can be seen
L
ighthouse
e
xterior
At the end of the rutted, overgrown track stands
the old lighthouse. Walls of fitted granite blocks rise
some sixty feet above the cliff face; they are worn
but appear solid and stand defiant of the elements.
Some of the narrow windows on the higher floors are
unshuttered, but dark. An old wooden door blocks
entry. A weathered platform sits on the western side
securing old ropes that extend upwards to pulleys
affixed to the very top of the tower. Aside from the
wind, all is quiet.
2
in the windows at night, and the sounds of wailing
and screams can be heard when the wind is right.
The lighthouse sits on Marblehead Point, a large
granite cliff that juts out into the ocean from the shore.
In days past, the early settlers mistook the white cliffs
for marble, hence the name. An old, overgrown track
leads inland from town, around and up onto the clifftop,
a trek of approximately 3 miles. The peninsula is topped
with a rough, hardy grass and scattered small trees,
twisted and bent from the wind.
The lighthouse itself stands 60 feet high, a hexagonal
structure of stone blocks cut from the very cliff on
which it stands. A single door at ground level allows
entry. On the west side, an old lift sits on the ground,
attached by ropes to pulley systems affixed to the top of
the tower. This was once used to haul supplies of wood
and oil to the top to replenish the lighthouse beacon.
The system is old and in disrepair, and the ropes will
snap if anyone attempts to raise more than 30 pounds
on the lift’s platform. If someone attempts to climb
them, one of the ropes can support up to 70 pounds
before breaking.
The door into the lighthouse is swollen from moisture
and stuck in its frame. A successful DC 12 Strength
check forces the door open.
1. ENTRANCE
This room smells of damp and mold. A spiral staircase
rises in the center of the room to the floor above. Two
doors block access to other parts of the ground floor. A
pile of rotten wood, collapsing crates, and old barrels
sits piled against the wall between the northern door
and the staircase.
Weakened Floorboards.
The northern room has a crack
in the wall behind the bed, allowing the elements to
rot the floorboards. A character that walks across the
weakened floor falls 10 feet into the cellar below (Area 5).
In addition to taking falling damage, the character also
rouses the rats in the cellar.
Prevention.
A successful DC 12 Intelligence
(Investigation) or Wisdom (Perception) check notices
the floor around the bed is weakened and unsafe.
2. LIGHTHOUSE KEEPER’S DOMICILE
This level of the lighthouse is a single room. The
staircase continues up the center to the next level.
Small, round windows pierce each wall in the cardinal
directions. A sagging bed covered with mildewed
blankets sits beneath one window, a sea chest peeking
out under one end. A rusted iron stove stands between
the bed and a small desk. A short wardrobe is next
to the desk, and the pieces of a broken chair are
scattered across the floor.
The sea chest is unlocked and contains an old pair
of boots, a hand-carved wooden chess set, and spare
blankets. The desk drawers are filled with moldering
paper and crawling with silverfish. A spilled container of
ink, long dry, has left a broad, black stain across its top.
Trapped Cache.
The wardrobe contains an old oilskin
coat, a black woolen cap, and a wooden cane, all
hanging from hooks on the back of the cabinet. A
successful DC 12 Wisdom (Perception) check locates
a false bottom in the wardrobe that holds a hidden
cache of the lighthouse keeper’s personal belongings.
The false bottom is trapped. A creature that opens the
false bottom takes 5 (1d10) bludgeoning damage as the
deadfall releases and falls on it. Otherwise, the deadfall
releases when the false bottom is opened, dealing 5
(1d10) bludgeoning damage to the person who opens it.
Prevention.
A successful DC 14 Wisdom (Perception)
check notices the lead-weighted deadfall in the
wardrobe’s top. A PC can disable the deadfall trap with a
successful DC 13 Dexterity check using thieves’ tools.
The doors lead to the guest rooms and the staircase
ascends to Area 3 on the floor above. If the refuse is
disturbed, three
giant centipedes
crawl out to defend
their nest. Beneath the garbage, and under a moldering
rug, is a trapdoor, covering a set of stairs down to Area 5.
1A-B. GUEST ROOMS
This small room holds a bunk bed, a pair of chests,
and a small table holding a stoneware basin and ewer.
These rooms are identical and housed guests, travelers,
or the occasional survivors of shipwrecks. The chests
are unlocked and empty, and the rooms are unoccupied,
except for the various harmless vermin infesting the
moldering straw mattresses of the beds.
Treasure
4
An old sack containing 57 gp and a leather-bound
journal that once belonged to the lighthouse keeper sit
inside the hidden cache. The journal provides evidence
the lighthouse keeper worked with smugglers, bringing
in goods at night during low tide through a sea cave at
the base of the cliffs. He became quite wealthy due to
his association with the smugglers. However, in his later

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