Overview
This tower used to be home to the illusionist Ammodrammus. A few years ago, the illusionist was ambushed by a band of goblinoids. Caught unawares and gravely injured, he retreated to the top floor. Although he hastily constructed traps that repelled the attackers, his injuries didn’t allow him to leave, eventually perishing behind his own defenses. More recently, a
hobgoblin-led team is probing the tower’s defenses, revisiting the site where their tribemates failed years ago.
Map Locations
A. Tower Exterior
The 50-foot tall tower sits in an overgrown field. The tower’s stone surface is windowless, but an empty doorway is found at the base. Surrounding the tower is a dense field of red flowers, blowing in the breeze. A decaying, swampy smell fills the air, and the sound of hammering comes from within the tower.
Two permanent illusions are in effect here. The first illusion camouflages two upper windows to look like the surrounding stone. The second illusion is the 15 foot-wide field of red flowers - the area is actually a swamp-like moat with the following features:
- The moat’s surface is 10 feet down, and the muck-like water is 3 feet deep.
- The moat is home to an otyugh, which has been waiting to grab a goblinoid. The otyugh is located in the southern portion of the moat. Once within 10 feet of the moat, anyone making a successful DC 10 Intelligence (Nature) check recognizes that the stench belongs to an otyugh.
- An illusory, 5 foot-wide trail passes through the flowers, leading to the tower’s empty front doorway. Stepping onto the “trail” triggers a DC 12 Dexterity saving throw to avoid immediately falling into the moat.
- A pole sticks up out of the flowers to the east of the tower. This is a marker set by the goblins to indicate the actual 5 foot-wide bridge across the moat.
- A 5-foot swath of solid ground around the outside of the tower connects the front door to the bridge.
Protective wards are in place that complicate any attempt to magically pierce these defenses:
- Casting detect magic at the tower reveals only the generalized presence of illusion magic.
- The DC for removing any illusion (such as with dispel magic) is 25, while the DC for seeing through the illusion is 17.
- A successful DC 14 Wisdom (Perception) check reveals that the flowers’ swaying is not consistent with the surrounding winds.
B. Main Room
A large pile of junk has been pushed together in the middle of this room, held together with rickety wooden scaffolding which reaches to the ceiling. Three
goblins are at the top of the pile, chopping the wooden ceiling beams. To the left of the scaffolding, a
hobgoblin captain watches over the goblins.
The hobgoblin captain Muk-Chash is in charge. He is determined to reach the upper floor, and the wealth he assumes is there, but has been unable to get past the stairway trap (area D). He’ll sacrifice his goblins without a second thought but is more strategic when deploying his other troops. Muk-Chash wields a
+1 shortsword and has 200 gp.
He’s directed some troops to disable the stairway trap and ordered three goblins to build a 20-foot-tall scaffolding (AC 12, HP 15) to break through the ceiling. If combat breaks out, the goblinoids in areas C and D automatically hear the fighting and join in, unless precautions have been taken to keep it quiet.
If intruders are seen, Muk-Chash orders
shortbow volleys while barricading the door. If the
hobgoblin devastator in area D is killed, Muk-Chash calls for a parley:
- He’ll cooperate with the intruders, but demands 75% of the treasure found (he’ll settle for 50%).
- If pushed for more, he offers to give his goblins to intruders, to serve as slaves.
C. Ammadrea's Room
The room contains all the furnishings of an upper-class child’s bedroom, decorated for the wizard’s daughter, Ammadrea. Two
hobgoblins are ransacking the room, looking for valuable items. The hobgoblins are focused on their search, but they hear any sounds of combat if it breaks out.
D. Stairway to Second Floor
A narrow staircase curves upward around the edge of the room, its ending hidden behind a wall. Scorch marks cover the walls and the stairs’ surface is pitted with small holes. A charred
goblin corpse is splayed at the bottom of the stairs.
A landing at the top of the stairs holds one of Ammodrammus’ traps. Within sight of Muk-Chash, a
hobgoblin devastator leads the attempt to disable the trap, along with a
hobgoblin and three
goblins. They haven’t made any progress. The charred corpse holds nothing of value.
Ammodrammus’ trap is located in front of the doorway and is designed to play on the weakness of his goblin attackers: greed. Adventurers can use that fact to deduce the nature of the trap and disarm it. As a creature reaches the mid-point of the stairs, an illusory
chest appears, along with a translucent green figure of a wizard. He speaks deliberately, as if to a child: “You greedy and selfish creatures have trapped me. Well done, you win! But only a true goblin can have what’s in my treasure chest. Just answer two questions…” The figure leans towards the topmost humanoid on the steps and whispers, “Who of you gets my gold? And how much do they get?”
If the likely “goblin answers” are spoken (“I get gold” and “ALL gold!”), or a humanoid moves past the image, then a damaging spell is triggered; roll a d4 (all spells are cast at 3rd level):
- Fireball
- Lightning Bolt
- Melf's Acid Arrow
- Ice Storm
If non-greedy or non-selfish answers are given, the trap deactivates and the figure states: “Based on your answers, I suppose you aren’t goblins. It’s safe to come up now. Please rescue me, I’m quite badly wounded. I’ll be in… well, let’s just say I’m behind in my studies.” - a veiled reference to the secret room behind his bookshelf.
If no answers are given within a minute, the image disappears. The trap can be negated with
dispel magic (DC 16).
Once past the trap, adventurers must still get past a locked, wooden door, requiring a successful DC 15 Dexterity (
Thieves' Tools) check.
A cubby in the wall behind the trap holds a jerry-rigged arcane device that powers the trap, linked to a
ring of spell storing. If removed, the ring holds one of the spells listed above.
E. Second Floor
This is Ammodrammus’ personal space. A variety of heirlooms are displayed along the wall and a small kitchen is around the corner. The only door is unlocked and leads to his library.
Bookshelves and cubbies lining the spacious room. A large tapestry hangs on the wall. It flickers through several scenes, including a snowy mountaintop, a shady forest, then an exact match of the surrounding stone walls.
The windows are real, made of glass, but hidden by illusion when viewed from outside. Each window is trapped from outside entry by a
glyph of warding.
When a Medium or larger creature enters a window from the outside, the glyph explodes and deals 6d8 force damage to anyone with 5 feet of the window. Each glyph can be de-activated with a successful DC 17 Intelligence (Arcana) check or by anyone proficient in Arcana who spends an hour studying it. Failure on the check results in the activation of the trap.
A successful DC 10 Intelligence (Investigation) check reveals the secret door behind the desk.
F. Secret Room
A bookshelf hides a door to this small room, where Ammodrammus eventually succumbed to his wounds. His skeleton lies in the corner of the room.
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