A ONE-SHOT MINI ADVENTURE Something evil stirs in the shadow of Shieldsborg Castle. Look for clues. Sharpen your wits. Search the forest. Can you find out what happened before it is too late? THE MISSING ONE-EYED CAT
The Missing One-Eyed Cat All content © Tove Lund Jorgensen and Erik Jorgensen 2021. Open Game License v 1.0a Copyright 2000, Wizards of the Coast, LLC. System Reference Document 5.1 Copyright 2016, Wizards of the Coast, Inc.; Authors Mike Mearls, Jeremy Crawford, Chris Perkins, Rodney Thompson, Peter Lee, James Wyatt, Robert J. Schwalb, Bruce R. Cordell, Chris Sims, and Steve Townshend, based on original material by E. Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson. Something evil stirs in the shadow of Shieldsborg Castle. A servant at the castle has gone missing. She was last seen carrying a thick grimoire and heading towards Wickshade Forest. Follow her tracks into the mist-veiled woods. But be on your guard, because the old forest is filled with sinister creatures – and recent events have awoken something malevolent at its heart. Look for clues. Sharpen your wits. Search the forest. Can you find out what happened before it is too late? www.midnight-tower.com
background After the fateful and blood-soaked night at Shieldsborg Castle, the surviving inhabitants of the castle have tried their best to carry on with their lives. However, the castle is built on cursed ground, and the fateful night has awoken evil forces. The cook’s cat, a one-eyed tabby named Jupiter, has run off into Wickshade Forest, where a vampire is slowly awakening at the old graveyard. Jupiter, who is attuned to the undead, sensed the vampire growing stronger and now guards its tomb to prevent it from rising. The cook, Nell Tintagel, cast a spell to localise the cat and left the castle to follow her. Coming from a long line of evil warlocks, Nell knows a little magic, but her skills are limited and her spells sometimes go awry. Meanwhile, the head butler at Shieldsborg Castle is worried for Nell and has sent word to the characters to look for her. the adventure begins On a dark, chilly evening, a courier arrives with a letter addressed to the characters. The sender is Akeshi Kheltora, an elderly dragonborn and head butler at Shieldsborg Castle. Akeshi is troubled by a couple of recent disappearances: The castle’s cook, Nell Tintagel, and her one-eyed cat have gone missing. According to the letter, Nell refused to leave her quarters, and strange whispers could be heard from behind her door before she disappeared. Akeshi is also worried that the recent bloodshed has awoken other dark powers, since several of the many restless spirits at the castle have grown more agitated. Nell was last seen near Longmourn Hamlet by an elderly man called Stenor Lyne. Akeshi implores the characters to travel to Longmourn Hamlet and find out what happened to Nell. arriving at longmourn hamlet Longmourn Hamlet is a group of unkempt, low stone buildings situated on the edge of Wickshade Forest. Many decades ago, the hamlet was a thriving farm and tenants’ housing for staff working at Shieldsborg Castle, but those prosperous days are long gone. The morning is cool and misty when you pass a broken wooden sign that reads “Longmourn Hamlet”. You follow an uneven, overgrown path that leads to a huddle of neglected farmhouses and old stone cottages. Most of the thatched roofs have collapsed, and only one house seems fit to live in. A tall, scrawny man bent with age stands with his back turned to you while sharpening a scythe with slow, precise movements. a bygone gardener The man is the widower Stenor Lyne, Longmourn Hamlet’s sole resident. He is an elderly human with snow-white hair and a deep frown. He wears old farmer’s clothes and a leather overcoat. Once a kind, cheerful gardener at Shieldsborg Castle, a strange encounter at the Blackraven Cemetery rendered Stenor’s mood bleak and his hair white. He has never told anyone what transpired and refuses to speak about it. Stenor is dour and slightly deaf, but willing to help the characters in return for a copper coin. strange behaviour Stenor tells the characters that he saw a woman who matches the description of Nell a few nights ago at dusk. She carried a lantern and a thick grimoire and muttered to herself as she walked towards Wickshade Forest. Stenor warns the characters not to follow her, as malevolent forces have longed claimed the forest – he wouldn’t go there even if his life depended on it. A ONE-SHOT MINI ADVENTURE THE MISSING ONE-EYED CAT www.midnight-tower.com www.midnight-tower.com 3
into the woods The characters find Nell’s tracks, but following them is tricky. Have the characters make a DC 14 Wisdom (Survival) check. On a failed check, the characters lose the tracks and find them again after an hour. If the check fails by more than 5, the characters get lost and need 1d4 + 1 hours to find the tracks again. On a result of 20 or more, the characters also notice the footprints of a small feline creature that lead in the same direction. roots bloody roots You follow the tracks through an increasingly ghostly forest. The naked branches of petrified trees creak in the chilly wind, but otherwise it is unnaturally quiet. You have a feeling that you are being watched. A tall, gnarly tree with bare branches looms on a low hill ahead. At first, the tree seems to grow on a great pile of skulls, but you soon realise they are rocks covered with grey, finger-like moss. The slumped body of a humanoid lies on the ground next to the tree. The tree is an undead treant. It attacks all living creatures that venture within 10 feet of it. The tree uses the statistics of a normal treant, but it is immune to necrotic damage. The body by the tree is the mangled corpse of an unfortunate traveller whose blood has nourished the treant’s roots. treasure The dead traveller carries a dagger, a leather pouch with 2 sp and 3 cp, and a brilliant red feather. Arcane accidents www.midnight-tower.com www.midnight-tower.com 4 The undead treant that craves blood for its roots and its unfortunate victim.
The characters reach a clearing by late afternoon. In the middle of the frosty ground stands a cloaked figure who chants and mutters while reading from a black, leather-bound grimoire. Now and then, the text in the book glows purple and illuminates the dusky surroundings. The figure is Nell Tintagel. The characters can eavesdrop on her by succeeding on a DC 12 Wisdom (Perception), which reveals that she is struggling to cast a spell. Characters who succeed on a DC 15 Intelligence (Arcana) check can tell she is trying to cast a high-level divination spell. Wizards who belong to the School of Divination have advantage on this check. “Aha! Here it is!” Nell suddenly says out loud. “On page 66. Let’s see, then…” She starts to chant but occasionally corrects her pronunciation. “Is that Shari-la or Charin-la? Well, hopefully, it won’t matter.” Suddenly the book flashes purple, and Nell is knocked to the ground. a fur-some message If the characters approach Nell, she explains that she is looking for her cat, Jupiter. She has been having reoccurring dreams about the one-eyed cat, who is asking her for help while an ominous shadow rests over her. “That is how I ended up here,” Nell explains. “I’ve tried scrying for Jupiter, and I think I finally know where she is. Would you like to join me? I’ll admit I find the forest a little bit creepy.” a grave situation The characters continue through the dense, shadowy forest and arrive at an old cemetery just before dusk. Veils of mist drift between the tombstones, most of which are cracked and overgrown by reeds and ivy. A bright orange cat is curled up on a marble grave among the ivy-covered tombs. One of the cat’s eyes is intensely green, while its other eye is sightless and milky white. Unblinkingly, the cat gazes at you. The cat is Jupiter. She was brought back from the dead by Nell after she had died in an accident three years ago. However, Jupiter returned highly attuned to the presence of undead creatures. Recent events at Shieldsborg Castle have incited enigmatic evil forces that pervade the land. These have also quickened the vampire. Also, the silver chains that bound him and the wooden stake through his heart have crumbled with time. Jupiter is currently preventing the vampire from leaving his tomb by sitting on it. But Nell is unaware of this and soothingly picks up the cat, which meows in protest. fangs and fury When Jupiter is picked up, the vampire bursts out of its tomb and attacks the characters. The vampire has the form of a human male in his early twenties with long, curly dark hair. It wears the remnants of a funeral costume and is covered with dust. The vampire fights until it is defeated. Nell uses the statistics of a mage, but fights only to defend herself. Her dabbling in magic has rendered both her and Jupiter protected against the vampire’s attacks as if they were affected by the spell protection from good and evil. Jupiter uses the statistics of a cat, but she has an Intelligence score of 7, darkvision (120 feet), and knows the location of undead creatures within 60 feet. In addition, the vampire recognises a fellow undead and won’t attack the one-eyed cat. treasure The coffin contains four crumbled silver chains (worth 10 gp) and dried garlic that withers to dust at a touch. Its lid is inscribed with “RIP Jerion Blackraven, our dear brother”. Nell recognises the name and the history of Jerion (see the sidebar for more information). www.midnight-tower.com www.midnight-tower.com 5
A vampire has awakened in its white marble tomb in the middle of Wickshade Cemetery. www.midnight-tower.com www.midnight-tower.com 6
The vampire wears an elegant golden ring (worth 500 gp) and an elaborate rapier untouched by time. The ring is a masterpiece from Hammersong and adorned with a large ruby. The rapier is a Vampire’s Blade + 1 that has absorbed some of its owner’s undead abilities and weaknesses. It is magic and provides the wielder with a +1 bonus to attack and damage rolls. The wielder also has resistance to necrotic damage. On a roll of a natural 20 when attacking with this weapon, the wielder gains temporary hit points equal to half of the damage that they dealt. However, on a roll of a natural 1, the wielder must succeed on a DC 15 Wisdom saving throw or gain one vampiric weakness, such as the craving for blood, sunlight weakness, or the need to sleep in a coffin. The DM decides the exact nature of the weakness. If the wielder dies, their vampiric weaknesses disappear. They can also be removed by the spell wish. return to shieldsborg castle Nell thanks the characters immensely and asks them to follow her back to the castle, where Akeshi rewards them with 150 gp and Nell gives them a bottle of vintage red wine (worth 25 gp). aftermath The characters receive a group award of 8,850 XP for accomplishing the quest, plus additional XP for defeating monsters. Alternatively, the DM can use this as a minor milestone award and the characters gain half a level. epilogue When the characters leave the castle, the sky darkens as an unkindness of several hundreds of black ravens flies over their heads. The ravens’ caws are foreboding, and they are heading northeast. Why the ravens are leaving in such a large number, and where they are heading is unknown – but it feels to the characters like an ill omen. the end lord jerion blackraven Jerion Blackraven was the oldest of three brothers and became the Lord of Shieldsborg Castle at a young age. Bold and fierce, but young and unexperienced, he protected the inhabitants of Longmourn Hamlet from a strange sickness that swept through the community. People became pale, anaemic, and developed strange wounds on their necks and wrists. But it wasn’t a sickness – the malaise was caused by a vampire who fed on innocent people every night. As a sworn paladin of a deity of beauty and love, Jerion sought out and challenged the vampire. However, his heart betrayed him: Instead of slaying the vampire, Jerion fell in love with her. Their romance was short, doomed, and ended tragically: The vampire was slain by a group of clerics, and Jerion himself became a vampire. His brothers didn’t have the heart to slay him, but captured him and imprisoned him in his grave at the old cemetery. vampire’s blade www.midnight-tower.com www.midnight-tower.com 7
www.midnight-tower.com www.midnight-tower.com 8 FOLLOW THE MIDNIGHT TOWER BEFORE THE STROKE OF MIDNIGHT Get FREE character backgrounds, unique maps, new subclasses, intriguing NPCs, and exciting one-shot adventures straight to your inbox! A 9th-level gothic mystery adventure for 3 to 5 characters. See all adventures at midnight-tower.com midnighttowerrpg @Midnight_Tower @midnighttoweroxford www.midnight-tower.com
www.midnight-tower.com www.midnight-tower.com 9 thank you! We hoped you enjoyed this adventure! If you would like to support us, please leave a review on the website where you found this adventure. production Midnight Tower © text Tove Lund Jorgensen Erik Jorgensen art Tove Lund Jorgensen design Erik Jorgensen maps Tove Lund Jorgensen LeslieAnn Khoury (Lizard Ink Maps) proofreading Pauline Nolet, www.paulinenolet.com art & photo credits cover: graveyard Tove Lund Jorgensen (design, montage and art) Susana Herrera (123rf), www.123rf.com Elena Schweitzer (Shutterstock), https://www.shutterstock.com page 1: vampire’s blade Tove Lund Jorgensen (original artwork) page 2: regional map LeslieAnn Khoury (Lizard Ink Maps) page 4: wickshade forest map Tove Lund Jorgensen (original artwork) page 6: wickshade cemetery map Tove Lund Jorgensen (original artwork) page 7: vampire’s blade Tove Lund Jorgensen (original artwork) ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS additional downloads Maps, VTT tokens, and handouts for the adventure can be downloaded here: http:// midnight-tower.com/additional-downloads-tmoec/ open game licence Version 1.0a The following text is the property of Wizards of the Coast, Inc. and is Copyright 2000 Wizards of the Coast, Inc (“Wizards”). 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