GM Overview
The plot centers around the goblin* wizard Roulen and his ailing wife Gilax. Both of them are veterans of wars to the north and acquired both an enormous fortune and the personal dislike of the emperor of the lands to the north. Seeking safety in exile, they acquired a powerful wizard's tower as an added layer of safety, and its energy as a source of enchanting energy. Unfortunately, the tower has a detrimental effect on anyone who is not attuned to use its energy. Roulen was attuned to the tower, but Gilax was not, and by the time they discovered it was the tower that was draining her life, it was too late to leave: the tower itself is now both killing her and keeping her alive.
*I'm assuming here that goblins are acceptable NPCs in your setting, leaning towards the "small crazy inventors" over "murderous cave dwellers".
Roulen has discovered a possible cure: a unicorn's healing power, given willingly or harvested from its horn. As a unicorn will only approach those who are pure of heart (and possibly only fair maidens who are pure of heart) and his heart decidedly doesn't count, Roulen has taken to hiring young women from town under the guise of paying them to cook for him, clean his tower, but then puts them out in the infamous labyrinth, a spot of badlands outside town that attracts and hosts dangerous monsters.
Not being completely irresponsible, seeking to avoid trouble, and wanting to keep the girl safe, Roulen puts a spell around the girl as she waits in the desert: If a monster comes too close she (not the monster, the girl) will be entombed. (The Entomb is on Gurps magic page 53 and the link spell, page 131). Roulen has a crystal ball that allows him (and Gilax) to watch for when the unicorn shows up and get the girl if she is entombed.
His latest hire is Abrella, a young and pretty girl from a household wealthy enough to be respectable but poor enough to need income and not be immediately noticed. Roulen took her on an excursion or two, then went to the wilds and asked her to watch a tent/ keep camp while he was off on some business. The real objective was to lure a unicorn in. Abrella, figuring out what was going on, has enthusiastically embraced her role, considers the couple her dear friends, and is being well paid for her trouble.
The waste has turned out more hostile than expected, and many beasts other than the unicorn have shown up. Abrella has been entombed many times, and each time Roulen has had to come and gets her out and recast the spells.
It's been harder and harder for Roulen to come and get her each time. Gilax's condition is worsening. She collapses every few days, and he has to brew a complex potion to keep her alive each time, and often he has to adjust it. Roulen is waiting longer and longer between getting her. She hasn't noticed, as she does not experience time while entombed.
Abrella's parents were happy enough at first, but she hasn't come home and they're worried that something is wrong. Roulen is being evasive with them about what's going on, the times they've seen Abrella she's been evasive (she's a true believer in the cause, and thinks she has actually seen the unicorn) and they've had enough: they're hiring the party to see what's really up.
Concerned Parents
Abrella's parents, Relikan and Famira, approach the party. They are concerned about their daughter being hired by the local wizard Roulen to cook and clean for his ailing wife. Every time they see her she seems happy, and has wonderful things to say about Roulen and Gilax, but she stops by to visit less and less. When they asked Roulen's contacts in town they said he often stays away from town for a while and not to worry. They've gone up to his tower and found threatening messages, and he has refused to come out. Abrella has not given convincing answers of what it's like to cook for someone so wealthy, and the parents are worried something sinister is going on. It's been 16 days since they saw her, and they want the party to check out what's going on. They're willing to pay a good chunk of money ($2,000, a sizeable portion of their savings).
Core Personalities:
Roulen the Wizard: A Talented Earth mage and Enchanter, Roulen was once a mighty wizard at the court of a powerful ruler, a king or an emperor. Now he is a paranoid fugitive and enchanter who lives in a tower outside of town, worried about assasins coming to kill him.
Gilax the Healer: Roulen's wife, a powerful healer*, who lives with him in his tower. Innately kind and generous, Gilax has picked up her husband's paranoid streak, for the emperor would like her dead just as much as he'd like to get Roulen. However, she is now thinking about all the things she's missed out on and would do differently if she got the chance.
Abrella the Weaver: A restless girl looking to broaden her horizons. Abrella is quick-witted, loyal, and anxious to make something of herself.
*She might be a cleric or she might just be a mage that specializes in healing. Depends on the setting: in DF, she's a cleric, on Yrth, she's a mage. The character sheet is written as a cleric. A wizard version may be found here.
Contacts In Town:
Relikan the Weaver: Abrella's father, a merchant and repairman. He spends less of his time weaving and more of it buying supplies, selling product, and repairing looms. He says his daughter disliked the idea of spending the rest of her life weaving, and he thought she'd do better on the merchant side, with some training. She was kind and smart and ambitious, but perhaps a little too honest for her own good. He was looking for a suitable marriage match for her when she took the job with Roulen and Gilax.
Famira the Weaver: Abrella's mother, a skilled weaver and head of the household. She runs the shop with a firm hand and a watchful eye. She says Abrella was very kind but perhaps a bit naive. If Roulen and Gilax weren't such fixtures with the town she never would have let her take the job with them.
Camile the Weaver: Abrella's older sister. Married, but still at home weaving (her husband has taken up the trade). She has noticed her sister's long absences, but thinks the wizard has her doing something with magic: "She has this sense of urgency and self-importance. He's got her up to something".
Kirtly the Weaver: Abrella's younger brother. He thinks she just doesn't want to come home. "She wants to go out and see the world, but she always worried we'd miss her. This isn't like her. She promised she'd come back and see us every week."
Looking around for people in town who have seen her will turn up a merchant who just sold her several fancy changes of clothing, along with one suitable for exploring the desert. He will report she was excited and seemed to have more money than she knew what to do with.
Roulen's contacts in towns (mostly other wizards) say they haven't seen him for three weeks. His wife they say is ill and he's consumed with making her healthy again. "He comes mostly to buy more alchemy supplies for potions, and occasionally for books or advice. But she's got some sort of magical disease or another, no one knows what it is, and she'll probably die of it".
They say they can't scry into Roulen's tower: its a powerful magical site guarded by strong wards with its own supply of mana
Gilax's friends in town (also mostly other wizards) are shocked she would accept someone cleaning her house. "She must be very sick indeed. Roulen must have brought her in: Gilax would never accept someone else cleaning that tower or cooking the food". They say Gilax is a powerful cleric herself: the two spent a lot of time in wars to the north or in the wastes to the east before coming here. She is especially skilled with constructs and healing.
All of them say approaching the tower is a bad idea. The two have powerful enemies to the north and a paranoid streak, especially Roulen. They will assume anyone who wants to enter the tower is an enemy in disguise.
The Tower
Roulen's tower is about three miles from the town walls. It's four stories high, with a basement and crenelations on the top.
A fence runs around the tower. A sign on the door reads "No Trespassing. Beware of Curses." A sign shortly beyond that reads "Not responsible for your grisly death". A third one reads "I warned you!"
Roulen will not listen to reason until he is either clearly defeated or he has defeated and captured a party member. He will assume they are here to take revenge for his actions in the war up north with the Emperor, or perhaps one of the nobles, and will try and figure out which one sent him. After a good deal of wasted time, he may finally believe the PCs, and tell them about the deal he and Abrella have.
The Physical Tower
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Approach
The approach to the door is fortified with linked spells. Stepping in the wrong place will trigger the glue spell and a rain of stones to go with it. It will also alert Roulen, who will cast reverse missiles on himself and yell from the top of the tower for the intruders to go away. If they don't, he will cast spells (he's an earth mage) trying to kill them. He is mostly a motion and earth mage. He also has a couple of Dakka Golems up there with him. The tower itself is a 45 point power item, and he has lots of potions on his person.
Entry Floor
The entry floor is a gatehouse in miniature, slits in the first hall way allow four Dakka Golems (two on each side) to shoot from the sides while 3 Stone Golems (Gurps DF 2 p. 26) fight to stop forward progress. Roulen will attempt to fight from above. He can use the tower to cast spells as though he were at close range, turning opponents to stone or entombing them. He's also very fond of the reverse missiles and steelwraith spells to keep himself safe. If the PCs try to get too clever, he can try and trap them with shape earth and earth to stone.
Basement
The basement is cluttered and full of supplies: food, beverages, tallow, rags. It also has a bed, a well, and some of Abrella's clothing. Stuffed in one of her pockets is a map she drew of the local badlands with various x's drawn on different locations. There is also a copy of the contract she and Roulen drew up together for the actual details of her deal: She is paid $400 a week (standard hireling wages for 125 point henchmen), can live in the basement of the tower, eats with the wizards, and gets a bonus of $1,000 for either capturing a unicorn or perishing. She will be healed while on the job, and has access to their library when stationed in the tower.
There is enough food and drink in here to feed 6 people for a month ($1,000, and 1000 lbs. These are not rations, and have to be properly cooked first), plus a collection of barrels and boxes ($500, and 120 lbs)
Library (Second Floor)
A comfortable office lined with book cases and featuring two desks. The books are libraries for researching various magical arts (constructs, healing, earth magic, motion magic, theology, alchemy, enchantment, and metamagic.) There are also some books on the tower itself, and memoirs of the two goblins.
Each textbook (See DF 4: Sages) on a spell is worth $200 and weighs 6 lbs. Other books are merely $150, and the books about the tower and the memoirs are only worthwhile to people who care about them (no one in town, but could be useful for the PCs). There are about 100 books. Finding a book on a specific topic requires a search roll, and of course the library might not have it.
Kitchen/Lab (Third Floor)
A jumbled messy kitchen and lab that doesn't distinguish between Food and Potion very well. The fire in the hearth burns perpetually. There are 2d6 doses of healing potion, 2d6 doses of paut, three gallons of wine ($27, 24 lbs), and an enormous variety of containers and utensils that count as an alchemist's lab. (treat as 500 lbs worth $1500).
Bedroom (Fourth Floor)
A large bed with three dressers, two tables, a mirror, and a chair. Gilax is probably in bed here, if Roulen doesn't try to move her to safety on top of the roof. Gilax is almost as paranoid as her husband, and will cast spells though she is not connected to the tower and is in a weakened state, at -4 FP and 7 HP. She can only use FP from her power item, a large jeweled amulet worth $4,000 and storing 15 FP, is at half Move and Dodge, and must make a Will roll in order to take a maneuver other than "Do Nothing"
On the table by the bed (Gilax's side) is a scrying ball observing Abrella's location. This is a magic Item ($5,000, l lb) that can be set to observe any one area permanently by a thaumatology roll with the item at the location to be observed.
There is a false bottom in a chest, and it has $5,000 in gold coins.
Roof
A stone fortification with a telescope on top for observing the stars. Can double as a ritual space for enchanting channeling "Both the land and the stars". The top is defended by crenelations, giving partial cover (-2 to hit) or total cover with just a step between them. The crenelations have 156 DR and 94 hit points, just like the tower.
There is an extra large telescope here, $1,000, 20 lbs.
The Wilds
Abrella is still out in the desert, entombed in stasis and completely unaware of all of this. Roulen can show them the correct spot, though they will need to borrow one of his books to cast the spell from default. (if he goes himself, Gilax has a high chance of dying). Gilax can also tell them about the correct spot, though she will use the crystal ball and finding the right spot will be somewhat difficult.
Traveling through the badlands is dangerous: random monsters are common. The players will encounter one on the way to the spot, and more if they go searching around several spots depending on Abrella's map.
When Abrella is freed, she will be anxious to get back to work. She is dedicated to healing Gilax and freeing her from the tower. When the players tell her of their efforts to get her back and offer to take her home, she will insist on staying so that Roulen can get his Unicorn. If he is still alive, he will sigh and say he's been putting people in too much danger and tell her they're calling the search off. She will persevere and insist on going back out there by herself. Shortly afterwards, the unicorn will come to her.
Wandering Monster Table
- Slorn (DF Monsters 1 page 26)
- Sand Wyrm* (DF Monsters 1 page 20... plus this conversion)
- Karkadann Pride, otherwise known as false unicorns (DF Monsters 1 page)
- Dire Wolves (DF 2 page 22)
- Acid Spiders (DF 2 page 21)
- Wyvern (Banestorm page 226)
*Yes, it says Ice Worm there. Thus the conversion.
These monsters roam the labyrinth, able to live there because of the strange portals that affect this place. One can roam the labyrinth and not find all of the monsters, as they all seem to have the ability to go elsewhere at times. But they pop in and out, looking for prey.
The Unicorn
There are two different ways the unicorn can heal Gilax. The first is if Abrella leads the unicorn to Gilax. Then the unicorn will heal Gilax with its horn and Abrella and the Unicorn will ride off into the desert. The second is if someone is able to trap or defeat the unicorn, in which case its horn can be ground up and used in a custom potion to cure Gilax. (Requires successful alchemy roll, $500, and two days)
For unicorn stats, either reuse the Karkadann, or pull from Banestorm page 225.
If the PCs manage to capture the unicorn Roulen will happily pay $4,000 for the horn. More, if the PCs try and squeeze him for it, he's desperate. But if forced to pay more, he will bear a grudge and may attempt revenge at some point.
Notes and Adaptations
This design gives the players quite a bit of wiggle room, either fighting through the powerful opponents in the tower, trying something clever to negotiate, or even using magic like seeker to find Abrella (or at least the spot in the desert where she is entombed). Its also designed to give them a lot of social choices.
In Yrth, Roulen and Gilax should generally know the emperor's secret (GURPS Banestorm Page 92). The adventure fits particularly nicely into Cardiel, though the "town" is written with smaller feel than Tedroy.
The adventure is written for DF characters balanced at 250 points, or possibly a little stronger than that. I'm not actually sure how hard or easy the combat is, but I suspect the tower is pretty difficult. This doesn't bother me, because Roulen favors non-lethal spells and is likely to capture a PC. And if they make it through, they get a huge pay-off.
Roulen and Gilax are powerful and the PCs may want to use them as contacts at some point. If this is the case, you can control access to them via their paranoia and infrequent visits to town, or have them leave the tower entirely (it is the thing that made Gilax sick, after all). Alternatively, Gilax can be a great research resource for a party otherwise lacking in research and the two can be a handy GM interface for certain kinds of purchases.
This adventure was written for the same Campaign as The Wedding of the Sea King. If you want to use both, make sure to mention the city is by the sea, not just in the desert!
I hope you find this adventure useful, either as is, modified, or simply as inspiration. Happy Gaming!
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