The Spellforge Tower
The Spellforge Tower
Read aloud
A blue-white light has begun shining from the ruined mage tower west of Phandalin, and something has been dragging livestock toward the hills. Sister Garaele offers a reward for anyone who can recover a Spellforge relic and make the road safe again. She warns that the tower's old wards may still be active.
Run the session
Cheat sheet
Objectives
- 1Enter the tower and survive its first defenses.
- 2Find the Spellforge relic and understand the danger around it.
- 3Resolve the threat in the forge chamber.
- 4Bring back evidence that can help Phandalin understand the tower.Optional
The clock
After each major delay, noisy encounter, or full rest inside the tower, Malveth's Echo gains strength. Track three ticks: at one tick, the blue light becomes visible outside; at two, a nearby monster patrol joins the next encounter; at three, the Echo begins the final scene with one extra defensive advantage. A careful approach or successful control-room investigation can remove one tick.
Scenes
- 0:00A Light on the Ridge
- 0:30The Warded Threshold
- 1:30The Hunter's Trail
- 2:30The Echo in the Forge
Cast
- Sister GaraeleQuestgiver and ally
- Talia ReedAlly and witness
- Dren VossWildcard
- Malveth's EchoAntagonist
The hook
Set the scene
Read aloud: The tower rises from a low ridge of pine and broken stone, its upper floors split open to the sky. Blue-white light flickers behind a narrow window, then vanishes. Near the path, a torn leather pack lies beside clawed tracks leading toward a half-buried entrance.
How Sister Garaele asks
Sister Garaele approaches the party in Phandalin after hearing of their recent work.
She explains that the tower's lights and nearby monster sightings threaten travelers and livestock. She offers a modest advance for supplies and promises a larger reward for proof that the threat is dealt with and the relic is recovered.
Rumours
Scenes
about 4 hours0:00
30 min
SocialThe table is here
1. A Light on the Ridge
A quiet corner of Phandalin, followed by the path toward the tower.
The party meets Sister Garaele, receives the offer, and can question Talia Reed about the tower. Talia can share a rough exterior sketch and warn that the western wall has a collapsed breach.
NextThe party follows the tracks and reaches the tower's broken grounds.
0:30
60 min
Exploration
2. The Warded Threshold
The ruined outer yard and the tower's entry hall.
The party chooses between the warded front entrance and the collapsed western breach. A brief search can reveal that fresh tracks lead to the breach and that the front door's runes respond to touch.
The Hall of the WatcherNextA stairwell descends from the entry hall into the intact lower levels.
1:30
60 min
Skill
3. The Hunter's Trail
The tower's lower archive and service corridors.
The party navigates a short sequence of chambers: a gallery of cracked portraits, a storage room stripped of valuables, and a sealed study containing a diagram of the forge controls. Dren Voss may be found hiding here, wounded or trapped, and can trade information for help.
NextThe diagram points to a control dais beyond the forge's main doors.
2:30
90 min
Combat
4. The Echo in the Forge
The Spellforge chamber beneath the ruined tower.
The party arrives at the central chamber and discovers that the relic is still secured in its cradle. They can inspect the controls, shut down the vents, or try to take the relic by force. Malveth's Echo makes its presence known as the party commits to a course of action.
The Spellforge ChamberNextThe party can return to Phandalin with the relic, leave it sealed, or pursue any surviving remnant into the tower's deeper passages.
Behind it
What people believe
A ruined Spellforge-age mage tower near Phandalin has begun glowing at night, and monsters are prowling its grounds.
Sister Garaele seeks a capable party to investigate, recover a rumored relic if possible, and make the nearby road safer. The tower's wards and internal passages remain dangerous, and a treasure hunter may already be inside.
Background
In the last years of the Spellforge age, the mage-engineer Vael Tern built a tower in the hills west of Phandalin to study enchanted weapons and store dangerous prototypes.
During a later war, the tower was attacked and partly collapsed. Its lower rooms remain sealed behind wards, and travelers have recently reported strange lights and monsters near the ruins. The adventure is designed to slot into a Dragon of Icespire Peak campaign as a local expedition that can be undertaken between jobs from Phandalin.
The stakes
If the party does nothing, the monsters will continue threatening travelers near Phandalin, while Malveth's Echo slowly builds enough strength to leave the tower.
If the party rushes the relic without understanding the forge, it may escape containment and endanger whoever carries it.
Encounters
2The Hall of the Watcher
Combat and hazard
A long stone entry hall with broken pillars, a rune-panel on the north wall, and two waist-high rubble piles that provide cover. The central floor is etched with a ward circle.
Foes
1 custom Spellforge Rune-Sentry, a slow construct with a heavy melee strike and a short-range force burst
2 custom Ash-Motes, fragile flying magical pests that harry anyone operating the ward panel
ComplicationThe rune-sentry's ward pulse activates at the end of each round while it remains in the room. Choose one exposed character; that character must contend with the pulse as a custom environmental hazard, such as taking minor force damage or losing footing. A character who studies the rune panel can disable the pulse with a successful appropriate ability check.
ScalingFor 3 characters or level 3, remove one Ash-Mote and reduce the sentry's hit points. For 5 characters or level 5, add one Ash-Mote and let the sentry use its force burst more frequently. These are custom creatures; use suitable low-CR 5E creature statistics as a base and adjust for the party.
The Spellforge Chamber
Combat
A circular forge room with a central raised crucible, two cooling channels, a broken control dais, and narrow walkways over a shallow pit. The relic rests in a sealed cradle behind the dais.
Foes
Malveth's Echo, a custom shadow-bound warlock remnant using a weakened spellcaster profile
2 custom Forgebound Thralls, animated armor-like guardians with a vulnerability to being lured into the chamber's cooling channels
ComplicationThe forge chamber's unstable heat vents flare when a character uses a loud attack, forceful magic, or mishandles the controls. On a flare, mark one section of floor as hazardous until the next round. Characters can spend an action to turn a nearby valve and reduce the hazard.
ScalingFor a lower-level or smaller party, the Echo begins weakened and only one Thrall activates. For a higher-level or larger party, both Thralls activate and the Echo gains one additional defensive trick. Keep the Echo's damage modest for level 3 characters; use a suitable 5E spellcaster base and customize its spells rather than treating this as an official creature.
Cast
4Sister Garaele
QuestgiverQuestgiver and ally
WantsA practical Phandalin salvage broker who wants dangerous creatures driven from the ruins and hopes to acquire a useful relic for the town.
“I want the tower made safe, but I will not pretend I have no interest in what you bring back.”
Talia Reed
Ally and witness
WantsA reclusive local scholar who has mapped the tower's exterior and wants its inscriptions preserved rather than sold.
“The old stones remember every hand that tried to command them.”
Dren Voss
Wildcard
WantsA self-serving treasure hunter who entered the tower before the party and now seeks an exit and a share of the loot.
“You came for treasure. So did I. Let us see who the tower chooses.”
Malveth's Echo
Antagonist
WantsA shadowy remnant of the warlock Malveth, bound to the tower's forge and seeking a living host to carry its will beyond the ruins.
“The forge is mine to finish. Leave, and I may let you keep your names.”
How it ends
Rewards
Items
One Spellforge token, a custom uncommon wondrous item: once per long rest, its bearer can add a small bonus to one check made to identify, operate, or disable a magical mechanism. It grants no combat benefit.
One potion of healing found in a sealed field kit, if the party searches the collapsed upper landing.
The Spellforge relic, a custom story item. It is valuable to scholars and collectors but may be dangerous until its purpose is understood.
On a win
The party returns to Phandalin with the relic, the tower's danger contained, and enough evidence to reassure travelers.
Sister Garaele pays the agreed reward, while Talia offers to preserve the inscriptions. The tower remains a usable location for later exploration if the party left sealed rooms untouched.
What it leaves open
If it fails
- The party is overwhelmed or chooses to withdraw before securing the forge chamber.
- The party retreats with their lives but the tower remains occupied. Phandalin's residents stop approaching the ruins, and Malveth's Echo has more time to strengthen its influence.
- The party defeats the guardians but fails to contain or destroy Malveth's Echo.
- The relic is recovered, but the Echo escapes into a nearby shadowed ruin or takes possession of an abandoned construct. It can return as a recurring threat.
- The party repeatedly mishandles the forge controls or ignores clear signs of structural danger.
- A compromised ward destabilizes the tower. The party can still escape with some treasure, but the lower level collapses and becomes inaccessible until a later expedition.
Complications (d6)
- 1A cracked ceiling drops stone blocks across the corridor. Creatures in the passage must avoid the fall, and the route is difficult terrain until cleared.
- 2The tower's ward flashes to life and marks one character with a visible blue sigil. Nearby constructs prioritize that character until the sigil is removed or suppressed.
- 3A pack of cave rats pours from a drain, scattering loose gear. One unattended small item is swept into a narrow crack unless someone reacts.
- 4Dren Voss triggers a noisy pressure plate in another room. The sound draws the next wandering monster or alerts the nearest guarded chamber.
- 5A cold forge gust extinguishes exposed nonmagical flames and fills the room with ash, briefly obscuring sight beyond a short distance.
- 6A sealed side door opens for one minute, revealing a cache alcove. It closes with anyone or anything still inside unless the mechanism is held open.
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