An Adventure for a Level 5 Party

Background: An unnamed goblin came across a cursed gold coin. He stole his tribe’s sacred treasures and fled. He found an old abandoned wizard tower to hide where he slowly starved to death and became a wraith. Local farmers say that the tower is haunted. The party can hear about the tower and explore it.

Setup: As the party travels on the road they see a farmer working on his field nearby. Two children in simple clothes run up to him and tell him that they saw movement in the old tower. The father stops what he is doing and sternly warns his children never to go near the old tower. If the party asks, the farmer will say that there’s an old abandoned wizard tower in the forest nearby. It once belonged to a distant relative but that was years ago. Now the old eye-sore is just a tumbled wreck and haunted. If the party wishes to explore it he will warn them that it is dangerous but will point the direction to it.

The Tower: The tumbled down old tower is about forty feet high and judging by the holes and decay, it’s probably only being held up by the trees that have grown up around it. You see a flutter of movement in a window near the top and you can just barely make out a moan in the rustling wind or did you imagine it?

The Tower (see map) is rectangular in shape and made from wood and stone. It has not been occupied in years. There is a large wooden door but it is completely blocked with rocks and other debris. There are a few windows and after a moments searching the players could find one that they could crawl into. Any creature larger than medium will find it difficult to enter.

The Ground Floor: The ground is littered with the debris from years of neglect. The floor is rotted through in the center leaving a gaping hole into a shadowy cellar. There are stairs encircling the wall that go up but the stairwell is missing sections and the few stairs that remain don’t look like they can support much weight.

A successful Athletics climb check (DC 15) or (DC 10 with rope) will take the players into the cellar. The stairwell is a bigger problem. A small creature can climb the stairs by making three Athletics checks (DC 14) and succeeding at two of them. Failure will result in one of the steps breaking and the player falls to the ground taking 4d6 bludgeoning damage.  A medium-sized creature will need to climb it carefully with three Athletics climb checks (DC 16) and succeeding at two of them. Failure will result in one of the steps breaking and the player falls to the ground taking 4d6 bludgeoning damage. A player that reaches the top can tie a rope to upper landing for the rest of the players to climb with a successful Athletics check (DC 10). Flying is possible but climbing or walking the walls is treacherous. There is a 25% chance that the wall will crumble causing the player to fall and take 4d6 bludgeoning damage. There is nothing of value on the ground floor.

The Cellar: The cellar is a tumbled down mess full of rotted logs, broken stone, and the accumulated piles of trash. There is broken glass, disintegrating barrels, and a family of mice living in a corner. 

In order to leave the cellar, a player must make a successful Athletics climb check (DC 12 or (DC 10 with a rope). There is nothing of value in the cellar. Players who can speak with animals will hear from the mice that there’s a loud creature in the roof of the tower and they avoid it.

The Observatory: At the top of the tumbled down old tower is an observatory. You can see a large telescope in the center of the room that has fallen over. Several bookshelves, dressers, and even a bed rest along the side of the wall. The moment you enter, a massive shadow emerges from the bed and an icy chill washes over you.

The observatory is home to a wraith (see Monster Manual). The challenge of this battle is that the ground is all considered rough terrain because it is not stable. The wraith can float around the room without difficulty but players who move more than five feet in a single round must make a Dexterity save (DC 12) or they risk falling through the floor. On a success nothing happens. On a failure, the player sinks into the floor and is prone. The only action they can take on their next round is to climb out with a successful Strength or Athletics check (DC 12). If the player fails by more than 5, they fall through a hole in the floor and fall forty feet to the ground floor where they take 4d6 bludgeoning damage and must climb back to join the battle. Once the battle is over, the players can move more carefully and may explore the observatory without risk of falling through the floor.
In the corner of the room behind the bed is the skeleton of a goblin. In the goblin’s hand is a single gold coin. The gold coin is cursed dragon gold. Under the bed is a sack that contains 20 silver pieces and several gems worth 300 gold along with some assorted goblin artwork that is worthless. A successful Perception check (DC 16) when searching the room will find a loose stone along one of the walls. Behind the stone are three arcane scrolls: Detect Magic, Remove Fear, and False Life. There is also a potion of jump and a vial of antitoxin with four doses in it.