Tower of Storms Encounter

“Tower of Storms” is not connected to any quest, though one of the entries in the Phandalin Tales table might lure the adventurers here. This location is balanced for characters of 3rd level, but lower-level characters can survive if they’re cautious and rest often.
Before running this location, review the underwater combat rules in the rulebook.

Location Overview

The Tower of Storms is more than just a lighthouse — it’s a temple dedicated to Talos, the evil god of storms. Moesko, the half-orc anchorite who guards the lighthouse, uses its pulsing beacon to draw ships to their doom, for the light acts as an irresistible lure to passing seafarers who sail too close to shore. The source of the beacon’s eerie green light is Moesko’s own heart, which was torn from his chest in a ritual. If the heart is destroyed, the beacon’s light goes out.
The lighthouse is built atop a barren, 80-foot-high outcropping of rock. At low tide, a narrow causeway extends from the shore to this outcropping, allowing easy access to the lighthouse. This causeway is 5 feet above sea level at low tide. At high tide, the causeway and the sandy beach are submerged under 5 feet of water.

Travel to the Lighthouse

The Tower of Storms stands along the coast roughly 35 miles west of Phandalin. If the characters leave Phandalin at dawn, they can reach the High Road by nightfall and spend a long rest camping nearby. As the characters travel west of the High Road the next day, they see a storm brewing out to sea. By the time they reach the 100-foot-high cliffs overlooking the lighthouse and the Sea of Swords, the thunderstorm has reached the coast.

Arrival

The characters arrive at low tide, when the causeway leading to the lighthouse is above sea level. Describe the location to the players as follows:

Below the high cliff that hugs the coastline, an outcropping of rock is nearly surrounded by water, with only a narrow causeway connecting it to the beach below. Atop this outcropping is a stone building surmounted by a lighthouse tower. An eerie green light pulses from this beacon, shining westward out to sea. With each green pulse of light, you hear the thump of a slow-beating heart.

Characters searching for a safe way down the cliffs discover a staircase carved into a narrow fissure. They can follow these steps all the way down to the shore just east of area T1. Crawling along the beach as they arrive there is a giant crab.
The giant crab waves its claws at the characters, who can interpret this behavior as a friendly gesture with a successful DC 13 Wisdom (Animal Handling) check. A sea elf named Miraal used magic to imbue this creature with an Intelligence of 10 and the ability to speak Common. If the characters approach it peacefully, the crab says, “Well met!” and tries to strike up a conversation, during which it imparts the following information:

• “Evil harpies nest atop the rocky outcropping.”

• “There are sharks in these waters, but the one to fear is a mean old brute named Daggermaw. She’ll bite your head off and take pleasure in it.”

• “Five shipwrecks are spread around the rock beneath the lighthouse. I’ll fetch treasure from one of these wrecks if you help me.”

Helping the Giant Crab

If the characters agree to help the giant crab, it asks them to lay to rest its dead sea elf master, Miraal, whose spirit haunts a nearby cave (area T1). If the characters do so, the crab thanks them and makes good on its promise, retrieving the +1 weapon from the wreck of the Star-Crossed Lover (see the Shipwrecks table).

Tower of Storms Locations

The following locations are keyed to the map of the Tower of Storms.

T1. Haunted Cave

Rough-hewn steps climb a 7-foot-high tunnel that passes all the way through a 30-foot-tall natural pillar of rock. A damp, 8-foot-high cave encrusted with lichen is connected to this tunnel. The cave remains above sea level at high tide and is haunted by a banshee. The banshee, Miraal, manifests as a ghostly elf with gills, webbed hands, and webbed feet. It wears spectral garments that sway as though the undead is floating underwater. The banshee can’t travel farther than 100 feet from this cave, and thus can’t reach the lighthouse.
Miraal was a sea elf killed by Moesko, who took her spellcasting focus — an opalescent conch — as a trophy. The banshee demands that the characters retrieve the conch and bring it to the cave, which will set her spirit to rest. It tries to kill the characters if they refuse, pursuing them as far as it can if they flee.

T2. Plateau

Rough-hewn stairs climb the eastern face of the rocky outcropping. The harpies in area T5 accost the characters as they climb these steps. See area T5 for details.
At the top of the stairs, a rocky plateau spreads out some 80 feet above the water. Wooden doors leading to area T3 have rusty iron hinges and handles, as well as decorative lightning bolts carved into them. All other doors in the Tower of Storms are of similar construction and ornamentation. None of the doors are locked.

T3. Foyer

This 15-foot-high room is empty. Through a dirty window in the south wall, the characters can see two ships’ masts jutting crookedly from the water.

T4. Shrine of Talos

Describe this location to the players as follows:

The walls of this fifteen-foot-high room are adorned with frescoes that depict ships being tossed on stormy seas, with a dark and terrible god looming above them and smiling. Set into the west wall is a dirty, salt-encrusted window. A stone altar with lightning bolts carved into it stands against the south wall. A metal rod descends from the ceiling above the altar, splitting in two before it embeds itself into the stone.

The smiling figure depicted in the frescoes is the chaotic evil storm god Talos, who can be recognized with a successful DC 15 Intelligence (Religion) check. Clerics of the Tempest domain succeed on the check automatically.
Through the window, the characters can see the broken masts of several sunken shipwrecks jutting up from the water.

Altar

The lightning rod on the roof (area T8) channels electricity into the altar, which converts that raw elemental power into magical energy. The first character to touch the altar gains the Charm of the Storm, described below. Give that character’s player the Charm of the Storm card.

Charm of the Storm

You become charged with the power of the storm, to the extent that tiny sparks crackle in your eyes. You can cast the lightning bolt spell (3rd-level version) as an action. Once used three times, the charm vanishes from you.
Once the altar bestows this benefit, it can’t do so again until it recharges. The altar recharges when the lightning rod on the roof (see area T8) is struck by three bolts of lightning from a storm and channels that energy down into the altar. Lightning from other sources doesn’t count.

T5. Harpies’ Aerie

A ledge enclosed by a 3-foot-high stone retaining wall serves as a nest for harpies. The harpies line their nest with rotting vegetation and the bones of previous meals, which they hunt up and down the coast. The number of harpies present equals the number of characters in the party, including sidekicks (maximum three harpies). A harpy reduced to 10 hit points or fewer tries to fly away on its next turn, hoping to live to fight another day.
Treasure. Characters who search through the harpies’ nest find a potion of water breathing. If the characters acquire this potion, give them the Potion of Water Breathing card or they can reference it in the Magic Items Listing.

T6. Lighthouse Interior

A spiral staircase with an ornate stone railing climbs up the inside wall of this round stone tower. Each staircase landing is 20 feet higher than the one below it.

T7. Moesko the Anchorite

This 15-foot-high room has two north-facing windows. A barnacle-encrusted chair stands against the south wall. Sitting in the chair is Moesko, an anchorite of Talos clad in armor made from giant octopus hide. Resting in his lap is an opalescent conch he took from Miraal the sea elf (see area T1).
Beneath his armor, Moesko has a hole in his chest where his heart used to be. If his heart (located in area T9) has been destroyed, Moesko is dead and slumped in the chair. Otherwise, he’s alive and demands that intruders leave the Tower of Storms at once or face his wrath. He attacks those who defy him, confident in his ability to defend the lighthouse.
If Moesko is killed but his heart has not yet been destroyed, his body reforms in 24 hours, regaining all its hit points and becoming active again. The new body appears within 5 feet of the heart.
Treasure. Returning the opalescent conch to area T1 dismisses the banshee as its spirit is set free. The characters are then free to sell the conch. Linene Graywind of the Lionshield Coster offers 125 gp for it, or it can be sold for 250 gp in a city such as Neverwinter.

T8. Rooftop and Lightning Rod

From this vantage point, the characters can see the shattered masts of the five shipwrecks west of the lighthouse (areas T10 to T14). Enclosing the rooftop is a 1-foot-high stone wall with a 2-foot-high iron railing atop it. A similar railing circles the walkway of the lighthouse beacon (area T9), which is 20 feet above this area.

Lightning Rod

A 10-foot-tall, wrought-iron lightning rod reaches toward the sky. During a thunderstorm, lightning strikes the rod at random intervals as determined by the DM, and is channeled through the roof to the altar in area T4. A creature that happens to be in contact with the lightning rod when it’s struck by a bolt of lightning must succeed on a DC 15 Dexterity saving throw, taking 22 (4d10) lightning damage on a failed save, or half as much damage on a successful one.

T9. Moesko’s Heart

The pinnacle of the lighthouse beacon is partly open to the elements and surrounded by a narrow walkway topped by an iron railing. Three open archways allow the beacon’s pulsating green light to spill westward over the sea. This light is so bright that any character who dares look directly at it is blinded for 1 minute.
The light originates from Moesko’s still-beating heart, which floats in the air 5 feet off the floor. The heart has been magically enlarged to ten times its normal size, and is considered a Small object with AC 10, 10 hit points, and immunity to psychic damage. The heart can’t be moved. If reduced to 0 hit points, the heart’s light goes out as the organ implodes and is destroyed, leaving no trace behind. Attacks made against the heart have disadvantage unless the attacker is immune to the blinded condition or the heart’s light is blotted out (by throwing a blanket over it, for example).

Exploring the Wrecks
West of the Tower of Storms are five sunken shipwrecks (areas T10 through T14), with only their masts visible. Characters intent on searching the ships for treasure will need darkvision or magical light sources to see, as the wrecks are submerged in murky, 20-foot-deep water.
Characters atop the 80-foot-high lighthouse outcropping might try to climb down its slope to reach the water. The slope has abundant handholds but is wet, so that ascending or descending it requires a successful DC 10 Strength (Athletics) check. A character who fails the check slips and falls, landing in the water below and taking 1d6 bludgeoning damage per 10 feet fallen.
Three 15-foot-long hunter sharks glide among the wrecks. Daggermaw is the meanest and hungriest of the three, and it attacks characters without provocation after they finish searching two of the wrecks. If Daggermaw wounds a character, that character’s blood in the water attracts the other two sharks, which join the fray on Daggermaw’s next turn.

T10–T14. Shipwrecks

The crews aboard these five vessels perished when the beacon’s evil light compelled them to crash into the rocky outcropping. Fish have picked clean their skeletal remains, which lie scattered throughout the doomed vessels. Three sharks patrol the wreckage (see the “Exploring the Wrecks” sidebar).
The Shipwrecks table below gives the name of each ship and the treasure that can be found within it. A character can spend an action searching the inside of a shipwreck. As part of that action, the character makes a DC 15 Wisdom (Perception) check, finding the ship’s treasure on a success. Once a ship’s treasure is found, nothing else of value can be retrieved from that wreck.
If the item found is a locked chest, a character can use an action to search the wreck for the key to the chest, finding it with a successful DC 20 Wisdom (Perception) check. Conversely, a character can pick the chest’s sturdy lock with a successful DC 15 Dexterity check using thieves’ tools.
When a magic item is found and identified, give the players the corresponding magic item card or they can reference it in the Magic Items Listing. In the case of the +1 weapon in area T10, choose from among the weapons available (+1 battleaxe, +1 longbow, +1 mace, or +1 shortsword). Only one +1 weapon can be found, so choose a weapon with which at least one party member has proficiency.

Plot type

Encounter

Parent Plot

Dragon of Icespire Peak

Related Characters

• Moesko