Tower of the Mad Mage.pdf

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Introduction
Tower of the Mad Mage
is a Dungeons &
Dragons adventure designed for a single
session of 4-6 hours play. Although it is set
around Longsaddle, it can be moved to any
other setting with a small amount of work.
The combat sessions have been designed to
present a tough challenge to four 1
st
level
characters. It will present a less difficult,
though still enjoyable, challenge to 2
nd
level
characters.
This adventure assumes you have access to
the
Dungeons & Dragons 5
th
Edition Basic
Rules,
which are available online for free
download. However, it is recommended that
you also purchase the
Player’s Handbook
and
the
Dungeon Master’s Guide.
This adventure is designed to be run with
minimal preparation. Before running the
session, though, you should skim through the
contents of this document.
Detailed descriptions for the monsters featured
here can be found in the
Monster Manual.
If
you don’t own the MM, you can find basic
stats in the
D&D 5th Edition Basic Rules
and
SRD online.
The statistics for any new
monsters may be found at the end of this
document.
Not every loose end is tied up in the following
text, nor every possible reaction accounted for.
Be ready to improvise, and do so with
confidence!
In the following sections, the boxed text should
be read aloud to the players. Unless stated
otherwise, assume all NPCs have the stats of a
commoner.
Longsaddle
Read the following –
The door slams open so hard that the wall
shakes and the hinges groan. To everyone’s
astonishment, a goblin staggers in. He is badly
wounded, with dried blood covering about half
of his body.
Only a moment before the air was full of the
rattle of dice, the slap of cards, and cries of
victory and defeat. Now the
Gambling Golem
is
dead silent.
The goblin lurches toward your table then
collapses right in front of you. “Help me,” he
croaks, looking up at you with bloodshot eyes.
“I’ll make you rich!”
The PCs are in the
Gambling Golem,
a gaming
den in the village of
Longsaddle.
The
proprietor of the
Gambling Golem
is a grim,
one-eyed dwarf named
Brottor Ironbeard.
He
will demand the party hand the goblin over to
the Constable. If they refuse, he will insist they
leave.
The goblin’s name is
Skwelch,
and he speaks
goblin
and broken
common.
He is too badly
wounded to talk much more. Magical healing
will restore him completely – otherwise he
requires a couple of days bed rest. You can
assume the players are staying at
The Gilded
Horseshoe,
which is Longsaddle’s only true
inn.
Skwelch’s Tale
When Skwelch is well enough, he will share
the following story.
He is a member of the
Deathrot Tribe,
who
have inhabited the
Starmetal Hills
to the west
of Longsaddle for many years. About a week
ago they were foraging in the
Neverwinter
Wood,
on the far side of the hills, when they
came across an abandoned tower.
The goblin chief,
Glubnose,
sent Skwelch in to
explore. Skwelch was astonished to find a
dragon on the top floor of the tower, alongside
a “big pile of dragon gold”.
Skwelch made his report and Glubnose
decided to attack. They managed to kill the
dragon, but most of the tribe were also killed
in the process. (If pressed at this point,
Skwelch will admit that the dragon was quite
small).
Despite their losses, there was much
celebration amongst the remainder of the
tribe. But things soon turned sour. Skwelch
thought he deserved a bigger share of the
dragon gold because he did the initial
scouting. Glubnose disagreed. They fought,
and Skwelch barely managed to escape with
his life.
The Deal
Here is where Skwelch will make his offer. He
will lead the party back to the tower and split
the dragon gold with them, assuming they get
rid of Glubnose and deal with the now
weakened tribe.
If asked how many goblins are left, he will hold
up his eight remaining fingers. If asked how
much gold was in the tower he will do the
same. He will assure them that the rest of the
tower is quite safe.
Anyone making a
DC 15 Wisdom (Insight)
check will decide that Skwelch is being mostly
honest, but is hiding something.
The Constable
Assuming the party accept Skwelch’s tale, he
will be ready to travel in another day or two (or
immediately if he is magically healed).
The day they head out, read this –
You have taken only a few steps down the
Long Road when you are approached by a
young woman. She is wearing a glistening
chainmail shirt and has a longsword strapped
to her back.
She stops before you and says fiercely, “My
name is
Ana Stormrider,
and I am the
Constable here. That goblin is wanted for
crimes against the people of Longsaddle, and
I’m taking him with me. Don’t get in my way.”
Ana doesn’t actually have any specific charges
against Skwelch - she just thinks the only
good goblin is a dead goblin. The party will
need to persuade her to let Skwelch leave, or
otherwise trick her in some way. Play it by ear.
Skwelch Under Arrest
If the party make an especially poor effort at
keeping Skwelch free, Ana will take him to
the lock-up and keep him there overnight.
The party could bust him out fairly easily as
there is no guard. If they don’t, Skwelch will
be taken before the magistrate in the
morning. The magistrate will chide Ana,
saying that being a goblin is not a crime.
Skwelch will then be released.
shortest route, but it will still take about a day
and a half of travel.
If they follow Skwelch, they will have two
encounters on the way. If they decide to follow
their own path, you should create some
encounters using the random encounter tables
in the DMG.
Attacking the Constable
Attacking Ana is a bad idea. Although she is
young, Ana has a long history of adventuring
and has the stats of a
veteran.
There are also
a number of retired adventurers in the village
who help keep the peace. If Ana is attacked,
she will be joined by another veteran every
two rounds until there are five in total
fighting. If the party somehow survive, an
archmage
from nearby Ivy Mansion will
appear, complain about the noise, and turn
the party into rabbits. Roll up new
characters.
The Journey
The tower is roughly 30 miles south-west of
Longsaddle. Skwelch will lead the party by the
Skwelch’s Personality
Skwelch is smarter than the average goblin
but still not very bright. In his mind, he is the
leader of the expedition, and the party are a
bit like hirelings. He will bark out orders
quite often, but will pay no attention if they
are ignored. He doesn’t listen very well when
others talk, and tends to look around or even
wander off when they are mid-sentence.
In battle, he has the stats of a normal
goblin.
His first priority is his own safety, so his
tactics will be to get a reasonable distance
away from the melee and then use his short
bow.
He will also call out useless combat advice to
the party. For example, if someone is hit he
might call out, “Use your shield better!” If
someone misses with their attack, he might
call out, “Get closer – then strike!” The PCs
will likely find him quite annoying.
Longsaddle
Neverwinter
Wood
© Megaton Games. Used with permission
Boar Attack
After the party set out, read the following -
The Starmetal Hills are low and rolling with
the occasional steep, rocky gorge. The poor soil
is decorated by scrubby grass, thorny brush
and the thickets of dry, scraggy trees. Skwelch
seems to know this area well and so you make
steady progress south-west.
It is about noon; the sun is high and hot, your
armor and gear are feeling heavy, and you are
beginning to think about lunch. You hear a
sudden squealing and three large boars burst
out of a spikey bush no more than thirty feet
in front of you. They squeal again as they
charge.
These
three boars
are ordinary animals – they
have nothing of value. If skinned and cooked,
they taste superb.
Naked Man
Read the following -
Toward the end of the day you leave the
Starmetal Hills and enter the vast, forbidding
expanse of the Neverwinter Wood. Skwelch
once more guides you expertly along old paths
and game trails.
The sun is starting to set and you are looking
for a campsite when you come across a fallen
tree. To your astonishment, there is a naked
young man caught beneath the trunk. “Thank
the gods!” he cries as he sees you. “Please,
help me!”
The man is trapped, but is otherwise
uninjured. Two or three PCs can easily lift off
the trunk if they choose. Skwelch will advise
them to either leave him or eat him.
The man’s name is
Jai Copperstaff,
and he is
an apprentice clockmaker from Neverwinter.
He has no idea where he is or how he got there
– his last memory was of going to bed in his
home at Neverwinter.
Poor Jai is actually a
wererat,
but he is
unaware of his condition. Five nights ago he
transformed in Neverwinter and then off into
the woods. A chance lightning strike saw a tree
fall on him a day ago, and he transformed
back.
If the party free Jai and keep him with them,
he will transform again around midnight. In
his rat form he is more than a match for the
party. If the PCs don’t attack him, he will stare
at them for a few moments then run off. If
attacked he will fight back, but will flee after
receiving
5 points
of damage.

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