Lone Wolf Book 1 AD&D Conversion Part 1 The Watchtower - update

The adventure begins with 4 first level characters, students from the Kai Monastery, sent to bring fresh supplies and take their turn at watch. The tower is about ten miles distant from the Monastery toward the South-East.

The tower is on a hill about 80ft above the surrounding forest. The woodlands are thick and wild with only hunting and animal trails nearby and the wagon road that leads back to the monastery. There is a roadway some distance away that follows the valley floor and heads from Toran to the North to Holmgaard to the South with a branch leading toward the Kai Monastery but it is hidden by the tall trees of the forest.

What can be seen from the roof, which is 60feet high, are the towers of the Kai Monastery, some open fields to the west where crops are grown, cattle raised and small farms scattered about, and the tops of trees for the most part to the North, East and South. The tower is used as a fire watch for the most part and sometimes a waystation for hunters and rangers, especially during the winter.

1. The interior of the tower has a large hearth against one wall and a smaller iron stove more frequently used against another. There are wide benches used for beds or storage against the walls and two long tables with benches in the center of the room. A trapdoor leads to a root cellar and small opening near the hearth is a well that goes down a spring beneath the hill.

The stairs lead to the top floor where the watchers sleep and keep emergency supplies and signaling equipment. A short set of stairs leads to the roof which slightly curved so that water will roll down into gutters along the side and collect in rain barrels below. From this rooftop that the Player Character see a dark cloud envelope the Kai Monastery.

2. The stables are large enough to hold a dozen horses and contain a small forge and anvil.

If they make their way to the monastery they find the swirling black cloud to be impenetrable.   

If the players decide to stay they will have the following encounters.

A).  As the sun sets they will hear the creaking of a wagon and shortly thereafter see it approach up the wagon-road. It is a two-horse wagon half-loaded with fresh cut and gathered wood. One of the horses is slightly injured and there is blood on the bed and bench. (Back-tracking the wagon along the road toward the monastery they will find a narrow side-road where woodcutters had been at work. At the end of the track is the scene of a fight with nothing to be found except a two-man saw and a blood-covered woodsman's axe).

B). Around midnight the sound of wings will be heard over the watchtower and the moon will be obscured for several minutes by a massive flight of Kraan heading east.

C). An hour before dawn a patrol of Giaks (12 1HD and 1 3HD brute) dressed in red-dyed leather armor, 8 carrying shields, spears and short-swords, while 4 carry shortbows, short-swords and quivers with 30 arrows each, The leader carrys a falchion and shield and wears a shirt of mail painted red.

D) About noon a Kraan carrying two Giaks will fly over the watchtower. Within an hour a force of 50 Giak will cut-off the north road with more Giaks and Kraan showin up by the hour till a Hellghast arrives to lead the assault.