The Mysterious Tower - Ghosts of Saltmarsh, Chapter 8

Annor shook his head to clear his senses. He was standing on the bank of the Dunwater river outside the Lizard-folk stronghold next to a smashed rowboat. He was with the rest of "A-Team" but he had no idea how he got here.

"What's going on? What's happening?" He asked.

His brother, Marlin, told him, "You've been infected with brain jellies for the past three days. You're better now."

Annor said, "Brother, the last thing I remember was entering the Lizard-folk stronghold and meeting Princess Orthokent."

"We worked it out, brother. Turns out they weren't invading Saltmarsh. They were kicked out of their permanent home by the Sahuagin. This is a temporary home until they can retake their original home. We made friends and negotiated an alliance with Saltmarsh."

Auric proudly proclaimed, "Yeah! We were inducted into the tribe. We got lizard-man names and everything!"

Marlin confirmed, "Yep."

Aella was likewise confused, "Hold on, Me too. The last thing I remember was fighting a giant crocodile."

Marlin said, "Yep, that was Thousand Teeth. That's what cemented our place with the tribe. We're going to help each other fight the Sahuagin."

Annor thought about this information, "So what are we doing now?"

Auric looked at Marlin accusingly, "Go ahead! Tell him!"

Marlin cleared his throat and took a breath, "Okay, listen. I have to tell you something, brother."

Auric blurted, "We're on a secret mission from the Thieves' Guild!"

CHAPTER 8

"THE MYSTERIOUS TOWER"

The A-Team:

• Avastana "Aella" Kádár - Neutral, Half-Elf  Outlander and Sorceress from Ket. (Absent)
• Annor Whalerson - Neutral Good, Human Marine and Fighter from Saltmarsh. (Absent)
• Marlin Whalerson - Neutral Good,  Human Seeker and Rogue.
• Auric Ravenson - Neutral Good, Human (?) Shipwright and Cleric.

With special guest star...

• "Amnesia" - Human (?) Amnesiac Rogue. 

Marlin Comes Clean
Annor blanched, "We're on a WHAT?"

Marlin held out his hands defensively, "We're not! Okay, we kind of are. Listen. Right. Okay, first of all, there's no thieves' guild in Saltmarsh. It's much too small. The Organization is for smuggling."

"What's the difference?" Annor demanded.

Amnesia interrupted, "Were you not aware that there's a lot of smuggling going on in Saltmarsh? I was only there a week and I've already met a sailor who explained how it all worked. It's like the worst kept secret. Everybody knows and nobody cares. They're not stealing from anyone. They're just not paying taxes on imports and exports."

Annor pointed his finger accusingly at Amnesia, "Those taxes belong to the crown! It helps fund the navy and build roads!"

Amnesia said, "Well, Saltmarsh isn't seeing any of that, is it? I'm just saying, it's not hurting anyone."

Annor said, "Those taxes pay for the town guard!"

Amnesia retorted, "No they don't! Where do you think the town guard get most of their income? From bribes and kick-backs from the smugglers to look the other way!"

Marlin jumped back in, "ANYWAY, I joined the Organization but, brother I'm telling you, it's all a ruse. I just want to gather information."

"Was that what all that secret devil worship ritual was all about?"

Marlin was confused, "The WHAT? Oh, the initiation ritual. That wasn't devil worship!"

Auric coolly interjected, "Tell him about the mission."

"Mission?" inquired Annor.

"Right, so we're going up the Dunwater river to pick up an item from some people and take it back to Gellan Primewater."

"Is this legal, brother?" demanded Annor.

"Well, probably not. I have no idea what we're picking up. But I know we're not supposed to let the town guard see it. Anyway, brother, I'm telling you all of this so that you know why I had to steal your Bag of Holding."

"My WHAT?"

DM Note-
The conversation at the table pretty much happened word for word like the above. It was great role-playing and I loved it. I especially appreciated how the player characters are falling into the same two camps as the town council. Annor is a loyalist. Amnesia and Marlin are Traditionalists. Aella was pretty neutral. Auric was mostly neutral. He didn't like paying taxes to the king but he didn't like working for an illegal organized crime syndicate either. 

After a While, Crocodiles! 
The A-Team followed the left bank of the Dunwater river north. There was no path and the bank was muddy and wet. Much of the land was likewise muddy and covered in grass and reeds as tall as a man with the occasional copse of small trees. They crossed many small tributary streams that were easily forded.

On the banks of one such stream they encountered three adult crocodiles and one juvenile. There was no way to avoid them. The crocodiles spotted them and slipped into the water and swam towards the party.

Annor dashed across the stream to attack a nearby crocodile on a small island. He was quickly attacked by one of its companions. Marlin disappeared into the tall grass while Amnesia engaged the juvenile. The juvenile managed to bite onto Amnesia's arm but it was too small to pull her down. Instead, it simply clamped on and wouldn't let go. It was small enough Amnesia could lift it with one arm.

Another adult bit at Amnesia but Marlin emerged from hiding to stab it with his short swords. Amnesia attacked it with her rapier while Marlin disengaged behind Aella the sorceress.

Soon all the crocodiles were defeated. Amnesia managed to capture the juvenile alive. She tied a rope around it to immobilize it and took the squirming reptile with her as they continued up the river.

Search for the Tower
Two hours into their journey upriver, the party encountered the lizard-folk and human skulls impaled onto poles that served as a warning that they were entering the domain of Thousand Teeth. Marlin told the others to keep their eyes peeled for a ruined tower. When asked why, Auric exclaimed, "Oh, didn't he tell you? That's our OTHER mission! His wizard friends wants us to find some magic crystals!"

Marlin explained that they had removed a mutagenic magic crystal from the throat of Thousand Teeth which had driven the beast mad. Marlin said that when he returned the crystal to his mentor,  Keledek the Illusionist, Keledek told him a story about an ancient tower that was home to some alchemists. The alchemists were conducting some experiments on a big magic crystal. The experiment failed and the crystal exploded, destroying the tower and sending ten crystal shards in every direction. If we found the ruined tower, we could explore the surrounding land looking for the ten shards. Keledek offered to pay us 300 gold coins per shard we recovered.

Annor reluctantly agreed to this plan. He was becoming increasingly wary of Marlin's "mentors".

Amnesia offered to scout ahead in case she encountered any hostile monsters, they could avoid them.

Auric asked, "why don't you just fly up and look around?"

Amnesia answered, "Wait, what? Because I can't fly! Did you think I could fly?"

Auric looked confused, "You can't? Can't all humans fly?"

There was a moment of bewildered silence before everyone answered in unison, "No!"

Amnesia pressed, "Can YOU?"

Auric wrinkled his face a bit, "Well, yes. I assumed everyone could. I just sprout my wings and take off."

Amnesia was taken aback, "You have WINGS?"

Auric explained, sort of, "Well, not all the time. I honestly thought everyone did! This is very confusing!"

"What ARE you?" pondered Amnesia.

Auric shrugged, "I'm a servant of Tristan, sent to this world to spread his message. I was given the form of a human. I had wings, so I assumed everyone did. Weird."

Amnesia considered Auric with cautious suspicion, "Okay then, I've changed my mind. Let Auric fly."

Auric sprouted celestial raven wings from his shoulder blades and took flight. He immediately spotted the overgrown ruins of an ancient keep on a nearby low hill about four miles west of the river.

DM Note-
I laid it out like this - they would need to make Intelligence (Perception) ability checks vs. DV 20 for each hour spent searching a 7500 yard hex on the map. It was currently around 10am. I would also roll for random encounters for each hour spent searching. Amnesia offered to scout ahead stealthily in order to avoid random encounters. I told her it would take two hours to scout a hex in that case and she couldn't get help on the roll from the others. She opted to stick with the party instead so she could get Advantage on the roll from the others helping. Then Auric busted out his wings and spotted the ruins in the distance. 

The Ruined Keep

The party found the ruins of an ancient keep on the top of a low hill about four miles from the Dunwater river. There was no tower. The walls of the decrepit keep formed a rectangle with crumbling bastions at each corner and a gatehouse on one end. Twisted trees grew in one corner of the compound. Long tendrils of black moss hung from the branches. The trees appeared to be slowly undulating despite there being no wind. The trees were black but slowly, almost imperceptibly, changed hue through green, purple, red, and pink on the tips. They had seen the trees near Thousand Teeth's lair exhibit the same behavior.

The party could sense a strange subsonic hum from an invisible energy that permeated the place.

There was a breach in the north edge of the east wall. The party avoided the gatehouse and scrambled over the rubble of the collapsed wall.  The center of the courtyard was barren, devoid of any structure or ruin.

Annor complained, "There's no tower."

Aella said, "What are you talking about? What's that big blurry thing?"

Annor was confused, "The WHAT?"

Marlin confirmed, "I see it! You have to turn your head. You can't see it if you look at it. You have to look out of the corner of your eye!"

There was a tower, but it was invisible! In fact, it was sheathed in some kind of magical field that made it difficult to look at or perceive. Once they were told what to look for, everyone was able to perceive the PRESENCE of the tower, even if they couldn't confirm it directly.

They approached the tower but found that the magical energy that shielded it from view also prevented anyone from approaching too close. It was like a magnetic field of repulsion.

"I thought you said this tower exploded." pointed out Annor.

"Well, maybe Keledek wasn't exactly correct on every detail." explained Marlin.

Auric interjected, "He's probably working on second- or third-hand stories. I mean, if the thing exploded, how would he know there were exactly ten shards? I'm thinking the tower is trapped behind some kind of magical force field. Maybe it didn't explode at all!"

"Good point" agreed Marlin, "He may have no actual idea what we're looking for. And, brother, you know what that means?"

"What?" asked Annor.

Marlin beamed, "Unexplored ruins, brother! That means LOOT! We should check it out!"

"For once, brother, I agree with you." admitted Annor.

There were several ruined structures within the walled compound. One was obviously a stable. One was a barracks. The structure nearest the party to the right was some kind of officer's quarters. Although the interior structures were ruined, it was still clear that the stonework and construction of the interior structures were relatively new, built within the last 150 years, while the walls and bastions were much older, perhaps thousands of years old.

Annor pointed at the officer's quarters, "Marlin, let's check it it out."

The pair entered the ruined structure - its roof had collapsed and most of the wood was rotten. Everything was covered in a fine coating of a crystalline crust that pulsated through the same black, green, purple, red, pink colors as the trees. The crust could be brushed off easily and crunched underfoot like old snow. Marlin soon found a trap door under some rubble. He pulled it open revealing a ladder descending into the darkness.

The Flying Sarcophagi
The ladder descended to a set of stone stairs that descended into darkness. Old footprints of dried mud indicated that these stairs hadn't been used in decades. The party descended the stairs.

They found a corridor which smelled of urine and decaying flesh. They decided to take a side passage to the left. They soon found a door which revealed a room. The room was once an armory but the weapons and armor were over a hundred years old. They were rotten or decrepit and of little value. They also found strange muddy footprints of an unknown creature with three stumpy legs the size of tree trunks. The mud was not very old.

They continued down a side passage. The passage led to a long corridor that passed through multiple archways. The stonework beyond each archway displayed progressively cruder and less sophisticated workmanship until they were traveling in  rough-hewn caves.

The end of the hallway was blocked by a ceiling collapse. They spent the better part of an hour clearing the debris which allowed them squeeze through to the other side.

They reached an ancient bronze door which they opened to reveal a square room, fifty feet on each side. There were four stone sarchophagi, each standing upright in a corner of the room. In front of the each sarcophagus were the loose bones of a former occupant clad in decrepit red robes. The remains appeared to have been dumped unceremoniously onto the ground. There was an open exit in the center of the right wall and an open exit in the center of the far wall.

In the center of the room was the statue of an old crone. The walls of the room were carved in relief images depicting mighty wizards and warriors kneeling before the poor and decrepit.

In front of the statue was the mortal remains of someone wearing armor and adventuring equipment. Whoever it was appeared to have died violently.

Marlin reassured his companions with a cocky lopsided grin, "Don't worry, I got this one."

Marlin got down on his hands and knees and crawled to the statue.

As soon as he crawled in front of the statue, the stone sarcophagi raised up into the air and began to spin around the room at high speed!

One slammed into Annor! The sarcophagi stopped spinning and took a position blocking the exits to the room. Aella and Amnesia were separated from the rest of the group in the hall. Annor swung his farcically long sword and smashed the sarcophagus to rubble. He glared at Marlin.

Marlin was confused, "I don't understand! I was sure the penitent man routine would do the trick." Marlin tried to turn the statue, push the statue, anything, but nothing stopped the flying sarcophagi. He was skilled at disarming mechanical traps but was helpless against magical traps like this.

Amnesia and Aella ran into the room with seconds to spare as another sarcophagus soon took the place of the one Annor destroyed.  The sarcophagus blocking the far exit moved aside leaving that exit clear. It soon became evident why - a throng of animated skeletal warriors carrying shields, spears, and scimitars of ancient manufacture came clattering up the hall. They poured into the room and engaged Marlin and Annor in hand-to-hand combat.

Skeletons
Auric stepped forward and held aloft the holy symbol of Tristin the Raven King, judge of the souls of the dead. He spoke loudly and defiantly, ordering the skeletons to wither before the holy power of  his god! Celestial ravens materialized and flew out into the room before disappearing. Over half of the skeletons cowered and fled through the far exit from which they entered.

The remaining skeletons were soon destroyed along with the animated sarcophagi.

Marlin examined the skeleton at the base of the statue and found a large steel shield, a short sword, some ruined adventuring equipment, and a piece of parchment preserved in a leather pouch.
The parchment had a drawing of a wooden practice sword and some notes:

"Humility is Power"
"Those who would kneel before the meek would see the meek kneel before them"
"With this blade should you lead the meek"
"Sword? Axe? (burn hole)"
"The legacy of Kni-(burn hole)"
"- was he truly corr-(burn hole)"
"The scrolls say he was, (burn hole) -ends don't"\
"Was his the sword of the meek (burn hole)"
"Finally found the tomb, tomorrow I enter"

The party also found sacks of coins in each corner of the room. Each sack contained, in turn, platinum coins, gold coins, more gold coins, and silver coins.

Auric warned the others, "My banishment won't last forever. Get ready, the skeletons will return in a moment."

The party positioned themselves around the far exit. On cue, the remaining skeletons came charging down the hall. The party was ready for them and they were soon destroyed. 

The party cautiously explored the passage from whence the skeletons emerged. They found only a room containing empty stone coffins with open lids. They returned to the statue room and proceeded down the remaining unexplored corridor.

The Trapped Statue
The corridor passed through a colonnade in a wide hall. Each of the pillars was carved to resemble an old blind crone supporting another crone on their back. At the end of the colonnade was a niche containing the bronze statue of a wizened old blind man with a staff.

Marlin once again asked everyone to stay back, "Okay, this time it will work for sure!"

Marlin got on his hands and knees and crawled towards the statue, carefully examining the floor beneath him as he did so. His sensitive fingers detected a loose floor tile in front of the statue - a pressure plate! He carefully activated the pressure plate. A large scything blade flashed over his head, shearing a few hairs as it did so! Marlin quickly inserted an iron spike into the scythe arm to prevent it from pulling back and resetting.

A moment later, the statue in the niche and the wall behind it began to descend into the floor, revealing a passage! 

The Cursed Wight

The short passage opened into a small burial vault containing a single sarcophagus on a raised platform. Greeting them in the doorway was the animated corpse of a warrior clad in bronze armor and wielding a wooden sword. The corpse was desiccated and black from age. It opened its toothless mouth and an eerie rasping voice hissed, "Finally! Now I am the master!"

The undead warrior clashed with Annor. To Annor's surprise, the strike of its blunt wooden sword cut like a sharpened metal blade!  The party soon destroyed the undead warrior and moved into the burial vault.

Marlin recognized the sword and the warrior from his knowledge of history. This was the legendary warrior Glorian the Humble who wielded a magical wooden sword. Glorian was a mythic hero from thousands of years ago, a holy warrior of Melchior - a forgotten god of the meek and the wretched. Suddenly the statues and carvings and rituals all made sense!

A quick examination of the burial vault revealed deep scratches in the door. The undead thing had been trapped in this vault for thousands of years, trying to get out!

The party was exhausted and needed a short rest. They retreated to the burial chamber of the skeletons to catch their breath.

Before they could even sit down, a massive spider the size of a horse crawled down the corridor from the sarcophagus room. The spider was large enough to block the entire corridor! It was quickly dispatched but not before biting Aella! Luckily, the venom of its fangs had little effect and the sorceress was able to shrug it off.

Having defeated the giant spider, the team was finally able to take a short rest.

While the others rested, Marlin performed a ritual to identify any magical artifacts they had found. The sword and shield from the sarcophagus room were both enchanted, as was the wooden sword of Glorian.

DM Note
In the original module, written for 3.0, Glorian's sword is +2 and did slashing damage despite looking like a wooden sword. For 5E, I changed it to a +1 sword bit gave the wielder the ability to do bludgeoning, slashing, or piercing damage at their discretion. 


Otyugh

Their rest completed and having exhausted all avenues apparent to them, the party retraced their steps to the stairs where they descended. They reluctantly and cautiously explored the corridor that reeked of urine and decay.

They entered into a large room that once contained barred holding cells along the left and right walls. The barred doors to each cell were open. There was a heap of partially eaten creatures piled in one corner of the room. A large monstrosity with three stumpy legs, two long tentacles, and a single eye stalk terminating in three beady red eyes. It took notice of the party's entrance and opened a wide disgusting mouth full of half-eaten carrion and sharp teeth, hissing its displeasure!

To be continued...

DM Comment

For this side adventure, I decided to use the Mysterious Tower by Goodman Games. It's written for 3.0 so I just have to update the monsters and traps to 5E and adjust the difficulty values by -5%. I'm also modifying the story to fit into the history of the Hool Marshes.