Candlemere Tower


Kingmaker

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I've noticed that many people are using Candlemere Tower as a jumping off point for various additions to their Kingmaker campaign. Here's a brief summary of what I've done in case anyone is interested:

For anyone on the island - a night spent sleeping on Candlemere island causes night terrors. Each PC must make a DC 17 will save or be affected by the spell "nightmare". Their dreams are filled with visions of light-ball swarms, mind-numbing buzzing and the occasional glimpse of huge incongruous tentacled masses.

Area A: Outside the tower

The "tower" is actually a small low-lying building with a 50' tower attached at one end. The only entrance is into the building at the opposite end from the tower. Though persistently crumbling, the tower rebuilds itself over time so that it seems to remain the same state of disrepair.

Within 100' of the tower , PCs must make a DC 20 will save or be shaken as per the AP. A will-o'-wisp (CR 6) is encountered the first time the party approaches within this radius.

Within 30' of the entrance, the PCs will trigger the first haunt:

Haunt: Escape from the Depths (CR 4)
Notice: Perception DC 15 to hear the sound of many people running towards the door from the inside.
hp 8; trigger proximity; reset 1 day
Effect: Cultists burst through the door (though it remains closed as if they were ghosts) with looks of horror as they flee the complex. Some scream while others run wildly with eyes rolled back in their heads. Their panic induces fear as the spell (DC 16 Will) on all creatures within 30' of the front door.

Other: PCs who flee beyond 100' of the tower due to this effect attract the attention of another will-o'-wisp.

Area B: Meeting Hall

Just inside the main doors is a large open room 30' wide and 70' long.

Haunt: Paranoia (CR 5)
Notice: Perception DC 20 to notice quick movements and terse whispered comments coming from the corners of the room.
hp 10; trigger proximity; reset 1 day
Effect: An overwhelming sense of paranoia washes over all those affected. You suddenly believe that everyone else in the room is waiting for the perfect opportunity to kill you. Treat this as if affected by the poison: Nightmare Vapour (DC 20 Fort) 1/rd for 6 rds, causes 1 wis damage and confused for 1 round - 2 saves to cure.

Area C: The Altar

At the opposite end of the meeting hall there is a raised dais with a waist height stone altar with a bowl shaped indentation in its centre. Among the rubble in this area lies a wickedly curved +1 human bane dagger (DC 20 perception to find). It is cursed, however, and only functions as a +1 dagger unless it is first used in a coup-de-grace against a human in which case it dimly glows a pulsing red light as its human bane ability is awakened for 24 hours. Anyone touching the dagger triggers the following haunt:

Haunt: Grisly Offerings (CR 4)
Notice: Perception or Sense Motive DC 25 to detect the change which comes over the person who triggers the haunt.
hp 8; trigger touch; reset 1 min
Effect: The victim must make a DC 16 will save or be compelled to move to the altar and disembowel themselves, letting their innards fall into the bowl there. In the surprise round, the victim moves to the altar on initiative count 10. In round 1, the victim performs a coup-de-grace against themselves using the dagger on initiative count 0. He resists attempts to stop him from allies and automatically scores a critical hit if he takes an attack of opportunity.

Area D: The Pit

Fifteen feet behind the altar there is a 20' wide pit which seems to decend indefinitely into the darkness below. This pit is in the centre of the tower which rises overhead. There are two stairways that corkscrew their way up the inside walls of the tower.

The pit is actually only 60' feet deep with a soft muddy bottom (falling damage is 5d6). It is masked by a permanent illusion (DC 19 will if interacted with).

Haunt: Tentacled Horror (CR 4)
Notice: Perception DC 20 to see tentacles reaching up the walls from the depths or Detect Evil prior to manifestation.
hp 18; trigger proximity; persistent
Effect: Anyone attempting to descend into the pit is attacked by the tentacled monster as it flails and grasps at the victim, attempting to pull him down. It's mere touch is enough to cause paralyzing fear. Treat this as if affected by sound burst (DC 13 Fort) each round someone is completely below the threshold of the pit.

Creature: At the bottom of the pit lies a Giant (simple template) Gibbering Mouther (CR 6). The pit widens somewhat at the bottom and is roughly circular and 40' across. The ground is soft and muddy making it difficult terrain for everyone except the Gibbering Mouther.

Treasure:
Ring of Dreadful Rejuvenation

This ring only functions when it's wearer is suffering from a fear effect. When the wearer causes damages in melee, he gains temporary hp equal to half of the damage dealt. He cannot gain more than half of his total hp in this manner in a 24 hour period. These extra hit points disappear after 1 hour or when the wearer ceases to suffer from the fear effect, whichever comes first.

Note that this ring, if worn, will prevent your own death should you try to disembowel yourself (just sayin...) as long as healing is provided before the temporary hp disappear. In this case, you will be at -Con hit points, but with half your total hp as temporary hp and will remain alive.

Area E: High Priest's Cell

At the top of the stairs there is a single room with two entrances (one leading to each stairway). The room is entirely empty and without windows. Across most of the walls are faint carvings. DC 25 Linguistics identifies it as written in Aklo, then a DC 25 Knowledge[Religion] check identifies them as blasphemous prayers to the Old Cults and a DC 25 perception check finds the eerie name "Yog-Sothoth". Attempts to read the carvings invoke the following haunt:

Haunt: Ancient Obsessions (CR 4)
Notice: Percpetion DC 25 to hear whispered words following along as you read the writing.
hp 8; trigger reading; reset 1 day
Effect: The victim begins speaking Aklo and repeats the words carved on the walls in an obsessive way with growing volume and conviction. The words (though they may not make sense, even to the reader) completely occupy the victim's thoughts and affect him as a touch of idiocy (no save) which lasts for 24 hours.

RPG Superstar 2011 Top 16

Awesome!!

Now, I don't know the haunt rules, but it would seem that Grisly Offerings would be higher than a CR 4. That's likely to kill someone (especially since you have to encounter it before you find the ring).

BTW - where is that ring anyways? Bottom of the pit in the mud?

Also, what are the cultists running from? Or is that intentionally unanswered?

Area E implies that the structure is at least two stories tall. Did you imagine your Candlemere more intact / not as old as the printed one?
Furthermore, you mention two stairwells: does the other just go off into rubble / exposed to the outside?


Erik Freund wrote:

Awesome!!

Now, I don't know the haunt rules, but it would seem that Grisly Offerings would be higher than a CR 4. That's likely to kill someone (especially since you have to encounter it before you find the ring).

BTW - where is that ring anyways? Bottom of the pit in the mud?

Also, what are the cultists running from? Or is that intentionally unanswered?

Area E implies that the structure is at least two stories tall. Did you imagine your Candlemere more intact / not as old as the printed one?
Furthermore, you mention two stairwells: does the other just go off into rubble / exposed to the outside?

Glad you like it.

Yeah - Grisly offerings does seem a bit tough, but it's pulled almost exactly out of RotRL. The saving grace for that haunt is that with allies around (who care if you kill yourself or not), you can prevent the effect even if they fail the save. The fact that the culmination of the haunt doesn't happen until the very end of round 1 means everyone will have at least one chance to step in (in haunt terms, without this "slow" property, it would have been CR 6). The easiest way to deal with a haunt is to deal positive energy damage to it. Basically, there's lots of ways around it but if they all fail, you're in big trouble. The effect is supposed to be similar to the spell phantasmal killer.

I guess I should have also mentioned that the dagger isn't immediately obvious and would take a DC 20 perception check to find. So it's *possible* that they find the ring first (though not likely).

The ring is indeed at the bottom of the pit in the mud.

There are lots of unanswered questions but all the haunts together kind of paint a picture of the types of things that were going on here a long time ago. Basically, I envision the ones fleeing as being unable to "cope" with the situation inside. The paranoid ones (from the haunt in B) are the ones who didn't flee but now suffer various forms of insanity. Clearly, the ring and dagger were used in conjunction for some ancient blood rite.

The published area does indicate that there is a 40' tall tower and I've kept it that way. Of course, the other areas needed a slightly larger building. The two stairways are on opposite inside walls of the tower. As they go up, they also go around leading to the two different doors into the high priest's room. It's a bit odd, but that's kind of the point. Why would someone bother making two stairways like that? Who knows!? Just another oddity that makes the place seem a little bit alien.


What is the destruction of all of your huants, it doesn't seem to list anywhere how to purify the tower to make a settlement there.


TheCondor wrote:
What is the destruction of all of your huants, it doesn't seem to list anywhere how to purify the tower to make a settlement there.

I would just stick with the suggestions in the AP (though I would recommend including the caveat that the gibbering mouther be killed). Once the area has been treated, all of the haunts disappear at the same time.

Grand Lodge

Tem wrote:
TheCondor wrote:
What is the destruction of all of your huants, it doesn't seem to list anywhere how to purify the tower to make a settlement there.
I would just stick with the suggestions in the AP (though I would recommend including the caveat that the gibbering mouther be killed). Once the area has been treated, all of the haunts disappear at the same time.

Consider borrowed! Thnx!


You're very welcome.

My PCs should be getting here in one of their next two sessions. I'll post some comments about how they do once they're finished. I'd also love to hear what happens to other groups for those that use it.


That's an excellent starting point for what I have in mind ... >:)

Shadow Lodge

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Adventure Path Charter Subscriber; Pathfinder LO Special Edition, PF Special Edition Subscriber

Nice. I think I may well use this to start my own Candlemere encounter. I also plan to have a small contingent of Derro living under the keep. Their insanity guards them against the haunts but their leader, a sorcerer of the aberrant bloodline derives comfort from this place and delights in the havoc and chaos that the will o the wisps so like.


Great work! I think I will use it in my campaign.


Yeah! Thank you Tem! I will sure use it in our Kingmaker Game.

Has anyone a suggestion on a good Lovecraft story to get in the mood for Candlemere Tower?

Scarab Sages

Adventure Path Charter Subscriber
Tem wrote:
lots of good stuff

Used this for the clearing of Candlemere Tower!

Of course the witch who found the dagger the first time, now wants to use this as personal tower...and learn more about these Old Ones


Mactaka wrote:
Tem wrote:
lots of good stuff

Used this for the clearing of Candlemere Tower!

Of course the witch who found the dagger the first time, now wants to use this as personal tower...and learn more about these Old Ones

Heh - you beat me to it. My group doesn't actually play until Friday and I'm hoping this is one area they'll explore soon.

Anything interesting to note from your experience? Too easy/too hard? Did it sufficiently creep out your PCs (besides the witch that is)?


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Well, the single Will-o-wisp from the lizardfolk tribe induced so much fear in the party that they've purposefully kept well away from Candlemere. Looks like it'll be at least two more weeks before my party will be seeing this.

Note: They're 7th level now and only have the final encounter in book 2 left besides this island. I wonder if the haunts are too easy for characters of this level? I'm guessing not, but we'll just have to wait and see!


I like this idea; it's similar to the events of Key of Destiny from Dragonlance.


Tem wrote:

Well, the single Will-o-wisp from the lizardfolk tribe induced so much fear in the party that they've purposefully kept well away from Candlemere. Looks like it'll be at least two more weeks before my party will be seeing this.

Note: They're 7th level now and only have the final encounter in book 2 left besides this island. I wonder if the haunts are too easy for characters of this level? I'm guessing not, but we'll just have to wait and see!

Ramp the haunts up a bit - nudge DC and CR accordingly, done. ^^


We used your approach yesterday night and it was real fun, Tem! Thank you! Although i realized what a let down paladins are concerning haunts. If the ruler of our kingdom was no paladin of Erastil and thus immune to fear-effects we would have had to burry the founder of the realm because of Grisly Offerings.


Candlemere was the least fun thing so far about the entire campaign. 3/4 of the party had the shaken penalty and most of us had taken damage (plus we lost 2 to a fear effect) before we saw a single thing we could actually try and fight back against.


Jason Ellis 350 wrote:
Candlemere was the least fun thing so far about the entire campaign. 3/4 of the party had the shaken penalty and most of us had taken damage (plus we lost 2 to a fear effect) before we saw a single thing we could actually try and fight back against.

Were you using my additions above or some other modification to the area? There really isn't anything too tough to beat as I've written it above. Many of the haunts only have a handful of hit points so a level 5 cleric can dismiss them almost automatically if they make the perception check and beat the initiative. Now that our party has a 7th level cleric, I doubt any of the haunts will cause any serious problems.

I think that the toughest part of island will be the will-o-wisps themselves though my party is already taking steps to arm themselves with things like see invisibility and lots of magic missles. Otherwise, it's the nightmares that would cause problems as PCs won't be able to recover spells and end up fatigued if they try to sleep on the island. The only real surprise they might run into would be the giant gibbering mouther. If a PC gets isolated in the pit, it could be curtains for them.


I think it might be that with my GM we never actually see the haunt, only the effects. There was another haunt he used that the party barely escaped from because we couldn't figure out what to attack. Knowledge checks were to no avail.


Jason Ellis 350 wrote:
I think it might be that with my GM we never actually see the haunt, only the effects. There was another haunt he used that the party barely escaped from because we couldn't figure out what to attack. Knowledge checks were to no avail.

Huh. Maybe you should direct your GM to the haunt rules if that's indeed what he intends to use. On the round that a haunt manifests, PCs get a perception check to notice it. Those that make the check have the opportunity to act during the surprise round and the haunt (typically) manifests at initiative count 10. If you apply positive energy via channel or cure spells you can dismiss the haunt for a set time (usually 1 day).

This is basically the same as using these effects to damage undead. That's why each haunt has hit points. Even CR 5 haunts which have 10 hp can be dismissed by a 5th level cleric who channels 3d6 as long as he rolls 10+ which will happen most of the time.


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Ok - my group has *finally* braved the shores of Candlemere tower as they complete book 2 of the AP. Here's a brief rundown of what happened. The party has four 7th level PCs and a 5th level cohort fighter

Area A: Outside the tower

Only 2 party members failed the initial save to become shaken near the tower and they were well prepared for the will-o-wisps by having electricity protection and magic missles flying everywhere.

Upon approaching the front doors, everyone made the save and the haunt had no effect, but the cleric realized the nature of the haunting and that he could prevent future ones by channeling his holy energy.

Area B: Meeting Hall

Only the ranger and cohort make the saves against the haunt and the others spend almost the entire time hitting themselves or babbling incoherently. At this point, everyone is pretty freaked out and the bard is reduced to 3 wisdom.

Area C: The Altar

Here, they don't bother searching the rubble! Instead, they're more concerned about getting up into the tower. They briefly test the bottomless pit by throwing a stone with "light" cast upon it inside. Will saves are failed and they continue to believe that it's bottomless.

Area E: High Priest's Cell

Thanks to some clutch rolls and taking a 20, the bard was able to decipher the runes on the wall. Thankfully, he also made the save against the haunt which could have crippled him.

Area C (again) - they return from the tower and this time use detect magic to determine that there is something magical in the room and they search in earnest to find it. The cohort comes up with the dagger and makes his way to the altar. Seeing what he's about to do, others jump in to stop him and suffer the crit as he's tackled to the ground. Thankfully, his momentary lapse of judgement passes with out serious injury. They decide it's an evil cursed dagger and throw it into the pit. Lo and behold - having interacted with the illusion again, the sorcerer makes the save and hears it hit the bottom!

Area D: The pit

The cleric climbs a rope into the pit while the sorcerer flies in. Cleric fails the save against the haunt and falls to the bottom. After most of the party making their way into the pit (by either jumping, flying or climbing down) the gibbering mouther is dispatched and they recover both the dagger and also find the ring.

They quickly leave the tower and head back to the mainland without any other incident.

There were certainly some moments that were a bit touch and go and my players were sufficiently creeped out so I think my job was done. Without changing anything written it was still a bit of a challenge for the 7th level party (though my players aren't nearly the optimizers that they could be - and I like it that way).

The Exchange

Consider this yoinked.

Grand Lodge

Wow. This is just awesome good sir.

The Exchange

Awesome stuff, thank you very much. My PC's will likely be visiting the tower in the next couple sessions so this will add a lot to that trip.


Thank you for this awesome writeup. I will be stealing it. I will be changing the name they found to tie it in more with the existing evil cult Gerona, especially since I'm not a fan of Lovecraft, but I love the flavor of this.


Think I may use this as well as my players are already looking at the island for their main stronghold/city. Shouldnt have given them a map really :) This will make things intresting when they get there as they arent expecting anything and this just makes whats there better.

Thanks


This is so good it should be fattening. Thanks again Tem.


I "borrowed" Tem's write up for Candlemere and upgunned it for a 13th level 5-PC group dripping cohorts. Excellent stuff, Tem!

Dark Archive Bella Sara Charter Superscriber

Nice! I spliced RotRL volume 5 into Candlemere. Rather than being a cult worshipping Chthuluesque gods, Candlemere is an outpost of Thassilon (sp?) set up as a diplomatic outpost/observatory of the Cyclopean empire. Hidden beneath the tower is the Scribbler's sanctuary from RotRL 5, including the clues to the Runelords' Vault. It's higher level than the surrounding module, but I always like putting in things like that to underline that my campaigns do not contain only level-appropriate encounters. It's up to the PCs to decide what encounters they face.

I also had fun in making the aura of dread emenate from a giant stone door enscribed with the Sihedron Rune. My players slogged/fled their way through some very unfair fights (will-o-wisps + shambling mounds) only to learn that they didn't have a spellcaster powerful enough to dispel the aura. After some discussion, they used stonemasonry to break the hinges on the door and the druid and Eidolon flew it 200 ft up in the air and dropped it...

...over a dozen times.

They proclaimed the encounter against the door to be one of the best of the campaign. I'm not sure if this means I run a game so boring that the most challenging foe is a door or if it's just fun to roll 20d6 a dozen times.

Scarab Sages

Ran this last night and really enjoyed it. The High Priest’s Cell went all to hell and it was an awesome thing to behold.


I ran this 2 weeks ago. I toned down the gibbering mouther by removing the template for my group since they were really beat up by the other addition I made. As it was, it almost TPKed.

I turned the high priests cell into a 2 part haunt. In addition to affecting the oracle with touch of idiocy, it was a summoning spell. I used stats for a tendriculous and put it in the middle of the room. Its a good thing our DPS uses a hammer.

They didn't meet the second Will-O-Wisp thanks to a creative use of the Entangle spell by the druid on the 2 party members who failed their saves at the door.

With 3 arcane casters but no cleric, I found myself with some odd questions about targetting haunts with positive energy and spells. Its not like they have discernable location to hit with the spell. I liked it overall, but some parts were wierd to me.


I'm quite flattered that so many people have used this in their games (or at least as a starting point). Please keep the reports coming. I love reading how different groups have fared - particularly when the PCs are of an unusual composition (I'd say 3 arcanists and no cleric would qualify!)


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Sorry if this is long!

I just ran this for my group last night and I must say, it was loads of fun!
The party Cleric used magic to walk the party across water. Half a dozen Willow Wisps were encountered before reaching the tower, these were easily fought off with the proper magic.

The party Fighter got the Shaken condition during the approach at 100'.

The group Wizard entered the tower first, failing his save. Everyone following making theirs. The Cleric, entering late did not notice the Haunt, though everyone wondered about the Wizards sudden, and bizarre personality change!

I spiced things up by describing broken furniture in the first room, with fingernail marks on the floor, leading in the direction of the following room.

I moved the alter location right next to the pit, with a run-off for blood catchment leading down into the pit. Delightfully, the Wizard entered first and proceeded to attempt a disembowelment, the rest of the group moved to restrain him, but failed!

Our Witch, having ranks in Aklo and History, learned about the nature of the Cult that now haunts Candlemere. After a failed save, he was speaking gibberish.

I think the PC's had really had enough, they beat a retreat. A lone Willow Wisp attacked on the way out and it was fought off.

Reaching the shore of the Island, the survivors realized they had no way off! The magic employed to get them onto it had expired. With little alternative, the trio made camp.

The Willow Wisps they fought earlier came on them during the night (none had been killed, just driven off).
A desperate fight ensued and lead to the Witch being slain and a Cohort bleeding out. The last surviving PC, with his injured Cohort attempted to swim for it. Luckily, they were aided in that by their mounts and made it to safety!


I've already run this encounter (and am starting on VV today), but I really like the idea. One of my players is a cthulhu-phile and wants to make the island into his wizard's tower. He would be disappointed if I didn't make that a very BAD idea. Anyway, since I've already run the encounter from RRR, I was going to take ideas from here and add them later.
The PCs have awoken a greater evil. It crouches on the island, uncoiling itself. It pulls in the will o wisps and devours them. (there's some easy xp for the party deleted). Eventually its blasphemous desire mists over the island and perhaps beyond...
It will start to grow while they are away at Varnhold. When they return...well, nothing more to say than DM's evil laugh!


Rodel wrote:

I've already run this encounter (and am starting on VV today), but I really like the idea. One of my players is a cthulhu-phile and wants to make the island into his wizard's tower. He would be disappointed if I didn't make that a very BAD idea. Anyway, since I've already run the encounter from RRR, I was going to take ideas from here and add them later.

The PCs have awoken a greater evil. It crouches on the island, uncoiling itself. It pulls in the will o wisps and devours them. (there's some easy xp for the party deleted). Eventually its blasphemous desire mists over the island and perhaps beyond...
It will start to grow while they are away at Varnhold. When they return...well, nothing more to say than DM's evil laugh!

"Awesum", to quote a certain Chum from Pawn Stars. I like that idea ... a lot. :)

The Exchange

Rodel wrote:

I've already run this encounter (and am starting on VV today), but I really like the idea. One of my players is a cthulhu-phile and wants to make the island into his wizard's tower. He would be disappointed if I didn't make that a very BAD idea. Anyway, since I've already run the encounter from RRR, I was going to take ideas from here and add them later.

The PCs have awoken a greater evil. It crouches on the island, uncoiling itself. It pulls in the will o wisps and devours them. (there's some easy xp for the party deleted). Eventually its blasphemous desire mists over the island and perhaps beyond...
It will start to grow while they are away at Varnhold. When they return...well, nothing more to say than DM's evil laugh!

Ohh I like this. My PC's have already visited the island and gone away thoroughly creeped out by the place and effectively quarantined it. they are now away at Varnhold solving that mystery and while the cats away.... *grins wickedly*


This is coming up for my group, great ideas! I plan on using some of this mixed with a few of the new mobs presented in Wake of the Watchers. Thanks again for these, Tem.


Snatcherbanderwocky wrote:
This is coming up for my group, great ideas! I plan on using some of this mixed with a few of the new mobs presented in Wake of the Watchers. Thanks again for these, Tem.

Interestingly enough, my PCs are sufficiently high level now that they can actually hope to remove the island's curse. I was hoping that I could think of something of appropriate difficulty that might show up on their return visit assuming that their first attempt to remove the curse fails (it's DC 30 caster level check, so the odds are good). I haven't gone through Wake of the Watcher in detail yet, but I'm sure there's something in there I can use.


Pathfinder Adventure Path, Rulebook, Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber

Tem,

This is great stuff, really awesome work! (My PCs have already had an encounter at Candlemere Tower, (I have anywhere from 5-7 PCs on a given game session) so I had a pair of will o' wisps attack them). They plan to go back to Candlemere Tower

Spoiler:
After dealing with the Trolls I think.

For fun I worked up a little something with the Advanced Bestiary (from Green Ronin) and I'll suitably "spoiler" it just in case...

Spoiler:
I added the Creature Swarn template to a will-o'-wisp to create a swarm of fine will-o'-wisps... and I think that will be a fun encounter in and of itself. Have you noticed (and maybe its in the errata) that the will-o'-wisp has the Dodge feat and yet has no +1 dodge bonus to its AC. (Which would make its AC 26). Well... a will-o'-wisp swarm has an AC of 36 (or 40 vs. AoO) since I swapped out a couple feats (now unless to a swarm) and gave it Mobility for one (and Ability Focus [distraction] for another).

Anyway... after my group goes back to Candlemere I'll post the result of their second attempt. Should be fun reading. :)

~Dean

Grand Lodge

The_Minstrel_Wyrm wrote:


Anyway... after my group goes back to Candlemere I'll post the result of their second attempt. Should be fun reading. :)

~Dean

Should be a near (if not actual) TPK.

Grand Lodge

Tem wrote:

I've noticed that many people are using Candlemere Tower as a jumping off point for various additions to their Kingmaker campaign. Here's a brief summary of what I've done in case anyone is interested... {lots of EXTREMELY cool stuff follows)

This is EXCELLENT - thanks.

You say some of this came from RoTRLs? I've have to look into those.


Pathfinder Adventure Path, Rulebook, Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber
Helaman wrote:
The_Minstrel_Wyrm wrote:


Anyway... after my group goes back to Candlemere I'll post the result of their second attempt. Should be fun reading. :)

~Dean

Should be a near (if not actual) TPK.

Eh... I'm not so sure. My group has a few "old school" gamers (from the 1e days) not to mention a 25 point buy. I find that with their use of sound tactics, players that "know" a lot of stuff, and their beefier game stats... they survive an awful lot of otherwise possible TPKs.

And... to be fair... a TPK isn't my plan. (But... let the dice (rolls) fall as they may). :)

I'll let you know.


The_Minstrel_Wyrm wrote:

For fun I worked up a little something with the Advanced Bestiary (from Green Ronin) and I'll suitably "spoiler" it just in case...

** spoiler omitted **

That's exactly the type of thing I was thinking of. Given that my PCs are roughly 11th level, I think this would be a suitable challenge. I may also lift the Spawn of Yog-Sothoth from Carrion Hill as it's about the right CR and fits well with your idea...


Pathfinder Adventure Path, Rulebook, Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber
Tem wrote:
The_Minstrel_Wyrm wrote:

For fun I worked up a little something with the Advanced Bestiary (from Green Ronin) and I'll suitably "spoiler" it just in case...

** spoiler omitted **

That's exactly the type of thing I was thinking of. Given that my PCs are roughly 11th level, I think this would be a suitable challenge. I may also lift the Spawn of Yog-Sothoth from Carrion Hill as it's about the right CR and fits well with your idea...

Hi Tem,

Thanks for the nod... I had almost forgotten

Spoiler:
the spawn of Yog-Sothoth from Carrion Hill...
but I might add that in as well... depending when my group returns to Candlemere Tower. Should be full of fun times. :)


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I ran Candlemere mostly by-the-book, except that Will-o-Wisps were strangely absent from the tower, and its aura.

Inside they found the ground strewn with rubble and little of interest except a 20'ish pool with a low crumbled wall wrapped around half of it. Inside the wall was the blasphemous text about Yog-Sothoth.

After all, my PCs had just completed the lizardfolk thing and I thought another Will-o-Wisp would have been boring. Anyway.

In an absolutely remarkable turn of events, it turns out that the PCs all cluster around the edge of that pool, peering at the wall, because each one of them has a different skill necessary to deciphering it -- one of them notices it, one of them can tell that it's ancient Aklo, one of them can Comprehend Languages, one of them can notice / identify the Yog text ...

And while they're distracted by the text, a tentacle schloops out of the water and strikes Fighter, dealing 1d4 Wisdom damage in the surprise round.

They scurry away from the pool. "Well ... it probably doesn't have Combat Reflexes," they say after the first AoO. It does, and the players roll admirably high for their Wisdom damages.

Far away, they begin spellcasting and they wait for it to emerge. Inside the pool, the water churns and roils (as it casts Protection from Law). They wait for it to come out. It waits for them to come closer.

Finally they begin to approach. One of them throws a magically lit object into the water, illuminating the form of a Shoggti Qlippoth; it retorts with a Charm Monster, which fails to a saving throw on the nose. They begin putting work in on it, but without knowing what its DR was weak to (and not using those weapons by default), the 10 kept it alive for some time. When several of the players had closed in it tried a Horrific Appearance, but only one player failed the save and it was ultimately slain by a round of crits from a two-weapon meatgrinder.

After briefly probing the well and finding an amniotic sac, the players fled that horrible place in case something else came out of the murk.

I justify the setting thusly; the powerful magic of the tower was used to birth Qlippoth into the Material plane, but at some point while they were vacant Will-o-Wisps moved in, drinking in the aura and rendering it incapable of generating Qlippoth.

Recently, however, the Will-o-Wisp that claimed the tower moved on to the Lizardfolk tribe, seeing potential for more fear. With the magic remaining uneaten, the Shoggti was once again able to incubate and birth.

If the players don't do something about the tower (and I hope they don't, but I know they will), I think it will continue generating Qlippoth up the ladder -- and for that matter, who knows where the well goes?


I think I'm going to adapt this thread to my game... I expect them to reach the tower in our session tomorrow, after renting a boat from their townsfolk. I'm very tempted to bump the haunts up to where they'd be a CR 10 or 12 or so - I like the idea of the PCs having this incredibly spooky tower that they can't bring themselves to deal with smack in the middle of their kingdom... possibly it'll be fodder for Grigori when he shows up too ("They claim to keep you safe, but they can't even deal with that tower!") I don't want to TPK them, but I do want to make them run away....


I was thinking of slipping in the Ghost Tower of Inverness but I like the ideas previously offered.


Fellwalker wrote:
I was thinking of slipping in the Ghost Tower of Inverness but I like the ideas previously offered.

I am looking for a full-fledged module to replace Candlemere Island with, and I think I will look into the Ghost Tower.

Scarab Sages

Thanks Tem! I used a lot of your ideas in my game.
I added a hound of Tindalos in the Paranoia room, which turned out amazingly well.

Spoiler:

The PCs noticed the haunt, and the cleric got rid of it before it had a chance to trigger. Noticing this, the invisible hound went straight for the cleric, and got him really low, but the party managed to drive him off.

It would have hunted him down and killed him in his sleep, but thankfully the PCs are a very knowledgeable bunch, and while they didn't know many of the monster's abilities, they did realize that it might come back for him, and they had seen it popping in and out of corners during the fight. That night, the terrified cleric slept in the center of the arena (as far away from corners as possible) with the party keeping watch. Even though they knew it was coming, it was a tough fight. The wizard cast fly to try to get the cleric out of range, at which point the party was horrified to discover it had air walk. The hound tore into the cleric, bringing him to the brink of death, and the wizard cast feather fall on him so he wouldn't die from the fall. Other party members frantically tried to kill it before it killed the cleric, and to save the cleric before he bled out. The fight culminated in a dimension door chase into the balcony where the fighter had been sleeping, with the fighter decapitating the beast with one mighty slash from his falchion.

I also added a souped up will-o-wisp that clings to a black crystal at the top of the tower that is the source of the fear aura. The PC's communed with Desna before going to Candlemere (the bard has a lyrakien, so commune-spam is standard fare) to ask about whether or not it was suicidal to go there. I gave them a cryptic "Unlikely, unless you summon 'them' " that had the PCs terrified about summoning eldritch horrors at every turn, afraid of the writings on the walls of every room, afraid to touch magic items with anything other than mage hand...
I changed the Lovecraftian horror to Shub-Niggurath, so that I could made reading the writing in the high priest's room start the summoning of Dark Young of Shub-Niggurath, and eventually even worse creatures if someone continued to encant the rituals written on the walls. The party took one look at the room with a crazy conjuration aura filled floor to ceiling with insane writings, slammed the door, and ran back down the tower.

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