Friday Fantasy: The Tower of Six

The true purpose of the Tower of Six is all but forgotten. It was originally built by the mages guild to serve as a watchtower from which they monitored the imprisonment of a monstrous outsider. As the centuries passed, interest in their duty waned and all that the last mage, Stratovarius the Blind, knows is that the watchtower stands over a blind darkness. However, to learn this, the Player Characters will need to find him and that is now a lot more difficult than it was only a few weeks ago. This is because cultists of the god of nightmares have assaulted the tower, believing that what lies below is an avatar of the demigod, the Leviathan, and that it is their sworn duty to release him. To that end they have explored every part of the Tower of Six—above and below—and are now busy preparing a great ritual which will break the bindings and unchain him. The question is, how much of what Stratovarius the Blind knows is actually helpful? Are the nightmares cultists’ beliefs true and is there really an avatar of the Leviathan imprisoned below the tower? And if not, what exactly is imprisoned below the Tower of Six?

This is the set-up for The Tower of Six, a scenario for ShadowDark, the retroclone inspired by both the Old School Renaissance and Dungeons & Dragons, Fifth Edition from The Arcane Library It is published by RPG Ramblings, the scenario is a sequel to Dark Visions, the supplement that introduced rules for and details of some fifteen cults to ShadowDark as well as the new Classes of Cultist and Inquisitor. In particular, The Tower of Six as an adventure is a sequel to ‘In Cultist’s Wake’ and ‘As Above, So Below’, the two adventures in Dark Visions. Together they form a trilogy that can be played in several ways. One is a scenario in which the heroes attempt to thwart the plans of an evil cult. Another is one in which the Player Characters are members of a rival cult, which can be as amoral or as evil as the Nightmares cult, attempt to stop the efforts of the Nightmares cultists or even subvert those efforts and take control of them! Of these options, the first is best suited to a traditional campaign and a long-term campaign, whereas the other options are better suited to a shorter campaign as the tone is neither heroic nor morally good.

The Tower of Six includes not just the scenario. There are four new magical items, such as the Brazier of the Ethereal, which when burning reveals all invisible creatures nearby and the veils between the realms become visible, but it can draw the undead to it when alight, and the paired Wands of Symmetry, each of which contains the spells, Mindlink and Mirror Image, and when one wand is used, it cannot be used again until the other is used. It also introduces three new monsters, the Deep One Fanatic; the Mirrored One which can transform into the mirror of any humanoid of a similar size and gain any of its Class features—if any, and jump into and out of mirrors freely; and the Slavering, which tries to attach itself to the tongues of its victims and replace them, forcing them to speak Primordial and vomit prophecies of doom…

The adventure consists of a four storey tower, including the roof, with a cellar underneath, and then below that, a two-level dungeon. The upper parts are cramped and are really the remnants of a working and living space, ones that have been partially ransacked by the cultists over the previous few weeks. There are cultists and their allies moving about the tower, but the atmosphere is one of a ramshackle building already having gone to seed, which has been given a good going over. Things lurk in the tower, so there is a really creepy feel to the upper parts. This also where Stratovarius the Blind can also be found, so ideally the Player Characters should explore and investigate the tower, hopefully to discover some hints as to what is going on below. What is noticeable about the design of the tower is that the number of combatants and foes in the tower is limited. What this means is that it possible for that number to be  exhausted through random encounters and in terms of ‘Danger Level’, the tower is rated as unsafe, so the Game Master will be rolling for random encounters every three ‘crawling rounds’. This may be higher in the fewer locations in the upper levels that are in darkness.

In comparison, the two levels of the dungeon are in pitch darkness, so normal ShadowDark rules apply for light. Here also, is where the cultists are hard at work preparing for the ceremony that they hope will release the Leviathan. In addition, further clues can be found as what the original purpose of the tower was and what the cultists are planning. The scenario includes a timeline that tracks the cultists’ progress towards the completion of the ceremony. As you would expect, the foes get increasingly tougher and more capable the deeper that the Player Characters go, and there are nasty monsters down there—especially if the cultists succeed and the Leviathan is released. In fact, it is entirely possible for the Player Characters to begin exploring the tower and its dungeons, and if they take too long or leave the Tower of Six and then do not return in time, for the cultists’ plans to come to fruition and the Leviathan to be successfully released. This would have dire consequences on any campaign world, although the Game Master would have to determine exactly what they might be.

However, there is plenty of treasure to loot and some interesting magical items to be found, whether or not the Player Characters are entirely successful. In particular, any Player Characters are probably going to be well-rewarded given the number of spellbooks to be found in dungeon.

Physically, The Tower of Six is well presented. The layout and organisation adhere to the ShadowDark format and so it is easy to read and follow. It helps that excerpts are presented alongside their location descriptions and so make the adventure easier to run. There are issues with the layout, which is untidy in places and not always consistent.

The Tower of Six can be run on its own with some adjustment, but it really is designed to serve as the finale of the trilogy begun in Dark Visions. It forms a creepy capstone and brings the Player Characters up against the head of the cult and his minions, but it is a pity that he is not as well developed as an NPC as the other two NPCs in the adventure, one of whom is actually masquerading as a cultist and may side with the cultists or the Player Characters depending upon their actions. Adding The Tower of Six—along with its previous two parts—to most campaigns is easy. Together they form a solidly engaging trilogy for ShadowDark, but where they have the potential to shine and be more memorable, is if played as mini campaign with the Player Characters as cultists.