"The Crystal Tower" A Neverwinter Nights Module for characters Level 5-10 By Jaspor of Guild of the Zodiac www.gotz.org Send any comments, questions, or bug reports to : jaspor@beerdrinkingfools.org DM Guide --------------- The adventurers find themself passing through the quiet village of Wirktus. But upon speaking to some of the villagers, things are not all as they seem. A mysterious Crystal Tower has appeared in the hills surrounding the village, and soldiers from that Tower have descended upon the village and stolen their precious Artifact. Will the adventurers attempt to infiltrate the Tower and retrieve the treasure for the helpless villagers? Who lives there and where did it come from? Find out, if you dare to enter the Crystal Tower. --------------- WARNING!!!!!!: --------------- This document is intended for those who plan on acting as the Dungeon Master for this module. It contains detailed information about the storyline, the quests, the NPCs, and the monsters found within the module. If you intend on playing this module, and want to be surprised, STOP READING NOW! SPOILERS AHEAD! You have been warned. :P The Story: --------------- The Village of Wirktus has had their valuable Artifact, a Sacred Chalice, stolen from them by a group of soldiers who came into the town from the Crystal Tower. The Tower itself sprung up almost overnight in the hills surrounding the Village. Of course, it will be up to the adventurers themselves to get the Chalice back. How they go about doing that is up to them. Server Set Up: --------------------- The level range this module is intended for is around the 5-10 range. Obviously, how many characters are playing will determine how well they survive. Most monsters are spawned in using the encounter system, so most fights should be balanced pretty well based upon the current players. The module also includes a "leveling up" NPC at the beginning to bump new characters up to the minimum suggested level before they start out (see the "Starting Out" section below). So putting the server up for levels 1-10 would keep out those overly powerful for this module, yet not discriminate against new characters. As far as PvP and party settings go, I usually have on the "Only One Party" and "Party Only PvP" options set. Feel free to use your own, though I make no guarantees about what will happen if all the PCs start murdering one another. :P Starting Out: ------------------- A Welcoming Room is included in this module where all players joining will start out. In this room is a single NPC, a Priest of Tyr, who will speak to the PCs. He gives some brief credits about the module, and offers to level up the PC to level 5 or 7 (based upon whether they are playing single or multi-player). He also gives them some gold to start out with. The NPC sells a wide variety of basic equipment so a new character can fully equip themselves before heading into the world. Basically, this room is there so that a brand spanking new character can join the module, level up to a level (5-7) appropriate to start the module at, and let's them equip themselves. If a character joins that is already of the approoriate level and fully equipped, they can totally skip this step. It is there for the convenience of new characters. Once equipped, the PCs can tell the Priest that they are ready, and he will give them a key allowing them to open the locked door leading out into the "real world". (No, not the show on MTV, the exciting adventure itself!) This exit is a one-way door, so once the PC leaves this Welcome Room, they will not be able to get back in. The Quests! ------------------ Basically, the adventurers will have to get into the Crystal Tower somehow and retrieve the Sacred Chalice. There are several ways for them to do that, which I'll outline below as sub-quests within the Village: Main Quest: Siitrom, the Town Elder, explains the predicament to the PCs. Siitrom is located in a farm house near the Dew Drop Inn. Sub-Quests: 1.) The Traveling Salesman - If a PC talks to the Bartender in the Dew Drop Inn and asks him about the Tower, they will be presented with a chance to try a "Persuade" check. If they succeed, the bartender will give some info about how a smooth talking salesman may be able to weasel his way into the Tower. He offers to sell them a "Shiny Sword" which can be offered for sale at the Tower gate. Using this way in, the PCs can enter through the front door of the Tower and will remain friendly with the inhabitants of the Tower. 2.) The Lost Amulet - A woman in one of the houses tells the PCs how her family heirloom has been buried with the remainds of her recently deceased father. If the PCs travel into his tomb (located in the West Hills area) and retrieve the Amulet for her, she will give them an invitation that gets them into the Tower. Using this way in, the PCs can enter through the front door of the Tower and will remain friendly with the inhabitants of the Tower. 3.) The Broken Wagon - A man just outside town, on the road in the West Hills area, has had his wagon break down. He offers some info if the PCs help him fix it. The part he is looking for can be found inside a barrel in the Village. When it is returned to him, he will talk about a cave found in the South Hills area which has a door he thinks might lead into the Tower. He even gives the PCs a key for the door. Once in, the PCs will have to deal with a Prison Guard. If the PCs have already finished the Lost Amulet or Traveling Salesman quests, they may be able to talk their ways out of a fight and remain peaceful with Tower residents. If they haven't, a fight will result and most residents of the Tower will become hostile towards them. 4.) Fighting Their Way In - Of course, the PCs can forego any way of cleverly getting in, and simply go up to the front door and kill the guards. Of course, this will also make everybody in the Tower hostile towards them. Although this can be a fun way in for parties that enjoy bloodbath type adventures, it's also, by far, the hardest way to finish the main quest of obtaining the Chalice. Inside the Tower ------------------------ Once inside, the PCs will either a) be fighting through a wide variety of guards, nobles, and servants around every turn or b) be free to wander around the Tower looking around. There are 3 floors in the Tower: 1) The Main Floor - Four locked doors here : One leading up to the upper floor, one leading down to the dungeon, the front door leading out of the Tower, and the door to the wine cellar. Each of these doors are un-pickable and un-bashable. For the exit doors, a guard standing near the door will possess the key. He will hand it over via conversation if the PCs can convince him to. Otherwise, killing him or pickpocketing him is the only option. The key to the wine cellar room is held by Agnes, the woman in charge of the servants. She is on this floor, in the Servants' chambers. More on her later. 2) The Dungeon - Not much down here. This is where the Tower connects to the cave found in the South Hills. There is a single guard down here who can be talked into handing over a key for the locked doors, but more likely, he'll attack. There's also a single prisoner who knows something about what has been going on in the Tower. 3) The Second Floor - More Quests! (See below.) Quests! The Tower's Upper Floor! ------------------------------------------------- Even if the guards, servants, and nobles are hostile to the PCs, these Quest NPCs on the Second Floor will remain friendly... Unless the PCs attack them too... 1) The Drunk Princess - The Princess wants some wine. Agnes on the First Floor will give the PCs the key to the wine cellar if they tell her they are newly hired servants. The wine cellar is behind a locked door on the First Floor. When she gets the wine, she gives the PCs a rare book on alcohol that will help them when they talk to the Sage. 2) The Trapped Sage - This Sage has been in the King's service for 20 years, and he wants to leave. However, the King won't let him. He asks that the PCs find his teleportation ring in the Treasure Room to help him escape. If the PCs make a successful Persuade check, he will give them a magical soul-sucking mirror to help them out. If they got the rare book from the Princess, giving that to the Sage will also yield the magic mirror. 3) The Prince - The Prince is a real rude guy. He asks that someone help find him a new mirror. Guess what... The Sage has one! If the PC gives the Prince the soul-sucking mirror and utters the magic word (as told by the Sage), the Prince will get zapped into the mirror. That's what he gets for being rude! 4) The Throne Room - The doors into the Throne Room will only unlock if one of the following has happened: a) The Princess got her wine. b) The Prince got zapped by the mirror. c) The Princess was killed. d) The Prince was killed. In the Throne Room is the King and Queen, as well as an assortment of guards and nobles. If the PCs are hostile to the guards, this could get ugly. Area effect spells that are cast at the guards and hit the King or Queen will make them go hostile, and all hell breaks loose. But it is quite possible for the PCs to clear out the room of hostiles and have the King and Queen remain friendly. Talking to the King, the only thing he would possibly trade the Chalice for is the life of his son. So, if the Prince was trapped in the mirror by the PCs, they have the bargaining chip they need. The King will trade the Treasure Room Key and a magic Wardstone for the mirror. If they don't have the Prince trapped in a mirror, the only way to get the Chalice is to kill the King to get the Key and Wardstone. 5) The Treasure Room - I'll keep this one quiet for now as to not totally ruin the ending. :P The Chalice is in the Treasure Room. There are a few ways the PCs can get it once they are in there. The Ending ----------------- Upon returning the Chalice to Siitrom back in the Village, he will reward them with gold, xp, and their own choice of one unique magical item. Each player in the party will get a choice of one of the items if they speak with Siitrom. The End. What's Next? ------------- There are a few NPCs in the game who talk about what has been going on in the Tower lately... Some dangerous and fiendish magical experiments. This is a bit of foreshadowing for other potential adventures in the future, whether they be created by me or someone else. :) Feel free to expand on those ideas to give the PCs a better idea of just what might be going on with this mysterious Crystal Tower. Encounters ----------------- Here are the mobs that make up encounters in the various areas. NOTE: The encounters in the module have been set to respawn after a certain amount of time. Just because players may have killed everything in a given area, that does not mean that it will be empty when they come back later! The amount of time between respawns varies from encounter to encounter, and is usually between 5 and 15 minutes. This was basically done for multiplayer, so that when a player joins after the rest of the group has already gone through and killed stuff, the late arrival will still have things to kill. It is not meant for players to "camp" areas and wait for stuff to respawn. Broken down by area, here's what kind of creatures to expect. These would probably be good to throw on the quickbar for spawning in additional mobs as needed: West Hills: Ogres (all varieties based on CR) Cats (all varieties based on CR) Bears (all varieties based on CR) South Hills: Ogres (all varieties based on CR) Cats (all varieties based on CR) Bears (all varieties based on CR) Crypt: Undead (all varieties based on CR) Spiders (all varieties based on CR) Cave: Spiders (all varieties based on CR) Beetles (all varieties based on CR) Goblins (all varieties based on CR) Bugbears (all varieties based on CR) Crystal Tower: Crystal Guard (all varieties based on CR) Veteran Guard Noble (male and female) Servant (male and female) Crystal Cleric Crystal Mage I guess that's about it. I've had this module running to the public for several days now, and I think I've fixed all the bugs. However, if you find any, or if you have any other questions or comments, feel free to email me at jaspor@beerdrinkingfools.org and I'll get back to you. :) Thanks for playing, and hope you enjoyed it! -Jaspor