GM Info

A Guided Funhouse Puzzle Dungeon for 6th to 10th-Level Heroes

Overview

An explosion rocks a nearby mountain range. Once the dust clears, two twisted and screaming towers remain: one black and one white. Ominous seals appear on the moon and stars. A wicked smile spreads across the eye-spotted black tower’s upper story, capped by a witch hat-like roof. Its upper and lower floors appear to be separated, with arcs of blue lightning emanating from its center. The white tower is a bastille of pale stone, with an otherworldly blue fire burning at its top. Windows of stained glass bend without breaking along the white tower’s exterior, and eyes of madness follow those who approach the black. A flock of winged serpents fly around these profanities of architecture. No one knows where these towers came from, and what has corrupted the celestial bodies. It is up to the heroes to uncover the mystery to stop a cataclysm that has been unfolding for centuries in secret.

Gm Info

The following sections are only for the Game Master. The information within should only be revealed when the party uncovers it.

GENERAL GUIDANCE

Players can tackle this dungeon from any angle, but some methods may prove more difficult than others. If they climb or fly into the windows in Rook or the opening in Crook, it will not “break” the experience. Further, this is an apocalyptic scenario in most fantasy worlds. There is a bad situation that has already happened, and it’s about to get worse. Only use this adventure as written if you’re prepared for your world to end.

WHAT’S REALLY HAPPENING?

In primordial ages, an ancient being known as Stolas schemed against the first creators. As a deity who helped ignite the spark of intellectual pursuit in the first people, Stolas’s actions drew concern from the creators who saw their worshippers become skeptics. For a god to become forgotten is as good as death, and Stolas’s gift of enlightenment was seen as an act of treason against the creators. For this act, the remaining gods imprisoned Stolas in an antimagical cell and placed the prison out in the far reaches of the universe. A place where it would be exiled from the gods, unable

to teach, sentenced to an eternity of obliteration, and labeled a demon. Stolas was driven mad by isolation, but his teachings have managed to reach out to students as whispers in other dimensions. Knage Ashright is two of these students. In one dimension, Knage (Kn) is a scholar knight sworn to an oath of discovery. In the other, Knage (Wa) is a sickly, but brilliant warlock conjurer and illusionist. These two made contact, and began constructing a set of buildings capable of freeing Stolas. They did so in their dimensions, as to avoid drawing any suspicion from the gods of the PCs. When the time came, the Rook and the Crook were activated. Both towers phased into Stolas’s dimension, twisting and warping them. Now functioning together, the Knages activated a star- ripping telescope in Crook, and pulled Stolas’s prison free from the sky. Knage (Kn) died in the resulting explosion, and now protects the towers as a Death Knight in C2 Throne Room. Knage (Wa) has been aged thousands of years to fuel the star-ripper, and his withered husk can be found in R7 Aging Ruin. Stolas is trying to shuck off the antimagical shackles remaining from its prison by overloading them, but the latent energy stored in the towers still keeps them intact by a trickle of power pulled from the prison. This has warped the surrounding area and the towers, causing a kind of magical fallout. If the shackles fail, Stolas will open a black hole and use its wishing star crown to create its own universe, destroying the realm.

Factions

The interests of the following factions are at the center of this adventure.

The Knage Ashrights

Knage Ashright are followers of Stolas and builders of the Rook and the Crook. There are two Knages (noted with Kn for Knight and Wa for Warlock), each from a separate dimension, but both sought immortality from Stolas. They called each other by the name “The Friendly Stranger”. Stolas instructed both of the Knages on how to gain the power of a wish to gain this immortality, under the promise that they would create the a machine of Stolas’s design to break him free. Many of their attempts at creating or finding a means of gaining one can be found throughout Rook & the Crook.

Knage Ashright (Kn): The builder of Rook is a human knight sworn to Stolas. He planned to use his immortality to serve as an undying savior of his destitute dimension, and planned to use Knage (Wa)’s immortal soul to fuel the Aging Ruin and the star ripper. He technically gained immortality, but only after being killed by the star ripper’s explosion, and is now a Death Knight serving Stolas in C2 Throne Room.

Knage Ashright (Wa): The builder of Crook is a human warlock fixated on cosmic forces. His curse of immortality leaves him frail and sickly. After creating the Orb of Parallel Realities, he became obsessed with Knage (Kn), and pleaded with Stolas to have his life. He had a contingency planned for if Knage (Kn) betrayed him, and told him the improper operation of the star ripper, which killed Knage (Kn) in the explosion. His withered husk is restrained in R7 Aging Ruin.

Stolas

A powerful demon lord of philosophy, gems, and herbalism. It appears to be an enormous owl wearing a crown, with extended legs and a nebula swirling in its eyes. In a primordial time, it was sealed away in a prison off in the farthest reaches of space. This prison is an antimagical cell that powered itself off of the mere presence of the Stolas, and was placed near the point of the Archer constellation’s arrow. Stolas wants two things: revenge and control. It knows the powers that imprisoned it could do so again, so it planned to create a universe of its own to rule over, using the matter of the universe against itself to make it. If everything goes its way, it will subjugate the world and use all the people as fuel in the Aging Ruin to rip more stars from space, and create its own big bang in the black hole.

Phoenix

There is a Phoenix imprisoned by Knage Ashright (Kn) in the top floor of Rook (R10 Phoenix Cage). While it is effectively being tortured to power some of the arcane machinations of the towers, it knows this is the last defense to keep Stolas in its own prison and possibly return it to the great beyond. It won’t leave its cage unless Stolas has been dealt with.

Wants: Stolas to be returned to its black hole prison.

Allies: -

Enemies: Stolas, Knage Ashrights

Stakes

The Stolas’ influence has warped the towers and summoned his amphipteres, and the antimagical prison that contains him is failing. Any magic from outside sources empowers him and speeds up the process to its prison breaking. This is reflected with the Countdown Die and the Wyrd Happenings. The Countdown die starts as a d8. Start rolling it after the Heroes move to at least 3 Areas. Every time thereafter that a Hero casts a spell or willingly uses the function of a magic relic within the towers (excluding attacking with a weapon or benefiting from armor), roll this die and roll on the Wyrd Happenings. On a roll of 1, the die shrinks by one size (d8 to d6, d6 to d4, etc). If the entire party traverses through any of the portals, only roll this once for the entire party’s movement. Each time the die shrinks, Stolas begins breaking free of its prison, and a horrific, owl-like screech can be heard all throughout Rook & the Crook. If the die was a d4 when it shrinks, the Stolas breaks free and will immediately set its sights on the Heroes.

Crystal Golems

The Crystal Golems of the towers are made of the shattered pieces of the prison. If at least three are killed, the Countdown die increases by one size and their bodies are magically assimilated into the prison. If the die is a d12 and increases this way, the prison is reformed.

Conversions

This adventure was written for Vagabond, but can be run with other “d20 Dragon Games” with some work. Other instructions are in the Bestiary.

Reflex: Breath, Dexterity, Agility

Endure:Death, Fortitude, Poison, Strength, Toughness

Will: Charm, Magic, Wisdom

Silver Standard: Treasure is valued for the Silver Standard. To convert to Gold, multiply gold and copper values by 10. Silver i s fine as-is.

Damage Structure: This Quest uses B/X damage structure, which is notably smaller than 5E or Pathfinder. As such, it’s recommended you use comparable versions of those systems’ statblocks.

Hooks

d4Hook 1Open Prompt: A star falls from the sky onto a mountain, and the peak sparks with blue lightning. As the dust clears, night has set in, and two towers stand at the peak. The moon and stars now glow with a bizarre red symbol. 2When You Wish: If the party needs to have a wish granted, this adventure kicks off the moment they start planning on how to make it happen. Immediately after, Hook 1 happens. 3Visions of Dread: Dread haunts the periphery of the party’s minds. A voice that rings like a symphony of dissonance whispers to them, “Beware the Friendly Stranger.” Their maps and compasses jump from their packs. They all direct the group to the location. At that moment, Hook 1 happens. 4Mysterious Stranger: The group sees a purple and blue striped door appear in front of them. A sickly human looks out, curses, and closes the door. With a locking sound, the door vanishes. The next moment they see a mountain, Hook 1 happens. This is Knage (Wa) trying to open the Wheredoor to a plane of infinite water.

Reading Areas

The Areas are formatted with Key symbols in the following way.

XAREA NAME

Descriptive text to help the GM goes here. The room key symbols appear below, always in the following order:

• Miscellaneous: Details to note.

• Vision: Assume the Area is lit unless indicated.

• !Hazards: Traps, Difficult Terrain, etc.

• Magic: Magic effect and source.

NPC: Nonplayer Characters.

Encounter: Dangerous monsters.

• Items: Loot that can be found.

• ↑Transitions: Points in the direction of an adjacent Area.

• ▲Elevation: An accessible path up or down to another adjacent Area.

• ?Secret: Secret that can be revealed.