TEXT: WRITING AND DESIGN: Ed Greenwood
  Editing and dEVELOPMENT: rOBERT j. sCHWALB
  Proofreading: Kara Hamilton and Dan heinrich
  ART DIRECTION and graphic design: 
  hal mangold, Kara Hamilton, and rOBERT j. sCHWALB
  LAYOUT: kara hamilton
  Cartography: Cecil Howe
  ILLUSTRATION: Jack Kaiser, Britt Martin,
  and Mirco Paganessi
  The Darkness in Shadowturrets is ©2016 Schwalb Entertainment, LLC. 
  All rights reserved.
  Shadow of the Demon Lord, The Darkness in Shadowturrets,
  Schwalb Entertainment, and their associated logos 
  are trademarks of Schwalb Entertainment, LLC.
  SCHWALB ENTERTAINMENT, LLC
  PO Box #12548, Murfreesboro, TN 37129
  info@schwalbentertainment.com       www.schwalbentertainment.com
   An Adventure for Master Characters
  ~Credits~
  Chaos reigns in the Grand Duchy of the West. Great, 
  clattering, moving heaps of animated bones, known 
  locally as “prowling bones,” emerge from the 
  duchy’s deep forests to terrorize the outlying 
  villages and towns. The people have begun 
  abandoning their homes as the body count rises, 
  and th  appearance of these horrors becomes 
  ever more frequent. The Grand Duke sent 
  his best warriors to defeat the undead threat. 
  The few survivors who returned reported the 
  foes were coming from Shadowturrets, an 
  abandoned keep in the back forests of the Grand 
  Duchy of the West. The New Followers of the 
  Seer, a cult that dabbles in necromancy and 
  forbidden magic, took the keep and are believed 
  to hold the place still.
   wanting to lose his entire duchy, the 
  Grand Duke oﬀ ered a reward to anyone who 
   
  troy the prowling bones and secure the 
  safety of the region. In addition to a land grant 
   
  ludes Shadowturrets and the newer 
  fortiﬁ ed manor of Hultrest, he also oﬀ ered three 
   and all the rents they can bring when 
  repopulated: the abandoned Culthaera, Frelbrot 
   
   hree mills on a good fast stream, and 
  Ithynn’s Bridge.  Wild rumors abound, but no 
   
   he wider Duchy really knows if the 
  New Followers are responsible for the prowling 
   r whether the cultists fell victim to the 
  monsters or their creators.
   Darkness in Shadowturrets is an adventure 
  for master characters that can serve as a 
  one challenge or launch a long-running 
  campaign plot, pitting the player characters 
   either the things infesting the keep or 
  the Grand Duke who hired them.
   he fun begin . . .
   An Adventure for Master Characters
  ~Credits~
  Chaos reigns in the Grand Duchy of the West. Great, 
  clattering, moving heaps of animated bones, known 
  locally as “prowling bones,” emerge from the 
  duchy’s deep forests to terrorize the outlying 
  villages and towns. The people have begun 
  abandoning their homes as the body count rises, 
  and the appearance of these horrors becomes 
  ever more frequent. The Grand Duke sent 
  his best warriors to defeat the undead threat. 
  The few survivors who returned reported the 
  foes were coming from Shadowturrets, an 
  abandoned keep in the back forests of the Grand 
  Duchy of the West. The New Followers of the 
  Seer, a cult that dabbles in necromancy and 
  forbidden magic, took the keep and are believed 
  to hold the place still.
  Not wanting to lose his entire duchy, the 
  Grand Duke oﬀ ered a reward to anyone who 
  can destroy the prowling bones and secure the 
  safety of the region. In addition to a land grant 
  that includes Shadowturrets and the newer 
  fortiﬁ ed manor of Hultrest, he also oﬀ ered three 
  villages and all the rents they can bring when 
  repopulated: the abandoned Culthaera, Frelbrot 
  and its three mills on a good fast stream, and 
  Ithynn’s Bridge.  Wild rumors abound, but no 
  one in the wider Duchy really knows if the 
  New Followers are responsible for the prowling 
  bones or whether the cultists fell victim to the 
  monsters or their creators.
  The Darkness in Shadowturrets
  for master characters that can serve as a 
  standalone challenge or launch a long running 
  campaign plot, pitting the player characters 
  against either the things infesting the keep or 
  the Grand Duke who hired them.
  Let the fun begin   
  
  Getting Started
  The adventure assumes the characters have already 
  agreed to undertake the mission on the Grand Duke’s 
  behalf. If you want to expand the adventure, you can 
  play through their recruitment and the audience with 
  the noble. The Duke seeks a capable and experienced 
  group to deal with the threat, so the characters might be 
  recruited based on their reputations or through contacts 
  they made with the Empire’s disintegrating nobility. 
  The Duke’s oﬀ er should be tempting enough, bringing 
  far more wealth and power than a chest of coins, but the 
  Grand Duke has no intention of letting the characters 
  keep their well-earned fortunes, as you’ll see in the 
  Aftermath.
   The adventure leaves several details for you to deﬁ ne. 
  The source of the troubles stems from a band of alien 
  reen that are using a spindle of magic that transforms 
  living creatures into bone machines. If the reen were 
  not responsible for creating the unholy magic, perhaps 
  the cultists they defeated created it. The radiance could 
  be the result of the Demon Lord’s growing inﬂ uence 
  or a powerful incantation that went awry. It could also 
  emanate from a device that empties an area of living 
  creatures to make room for the reen to settle when they 
  come through the Void. 
   In addition to the usual considerations you ought to 
  make when setting up an adventure, it’s important to 
  note that The Darkness of Shadowturrets is an extremely 
  challenging scenario, even for the highest-level groups 
  of master characters. Such groups would do well to pad 
  their numbers with henchmen, mercenaries, and other 
  servants if they want to survive.
  Ithynn’s Bridge
  On the way to Shadowturrets, the group comes upon 
  abandoned Ithynn’s Bridge, the village nearest the 
  ruined keep. The residents hastily ﬂ ed the prowling 
  bones with what they could carry, leaving the place 
  eerily quiet, except for birds and a few wild dogs. 
  Ithynn’s Bridge consists of sixteen wooden cottages 
  huddled on the shores of a wide river spanned by the 
  simple but massive stone clapper bridge for which the 
  place is named.
   At one end of the bridge stands the tavern, Drowning 
  the Bridge. It has two upstairs sleeping rooms and used 
  to serve meals in its common room. Thaerlo’s Waystables 
  (and smithy and seconds shop) and Maerald’s Sundries 
  (a bakery and spices and seconds shop) are the only 
  other places of interest and are similarly emptied of 
  valuables and useful items.
  Exploring the Village
  A few minutes spent searching the community makes it 
  clear the locals ﬂ ed in haste. Characters ﬁ nd casks of ale 
  in the tavern too large to shift with anything short of a 
  wagon, some mildewed sacks of grain, withered apples, 
  and a few dates. There are no useful tools—Thaerlo (the 
  smith who currently suﬀ ers in Shadowturrets) took his 
  anvil, bellows, tools, and every other scrap of metal in his 
  smithy with him. And not a wagon, cart, sledge, scrap of 
  harness, beast of burden, or riding mount can be found.
   The wall behind the bar in the tavern’s common room 
  bears a magniﬁ cent painted map of the immediate area. 
  It’s limned on the various boards of the wall and is not 
  something that can be removed intact. It shows roads 
  and tracks, Shadowturrets and Hultrest, and the three 
  villages, with Ithynn’s Bridge shown as the largest. The 
  map is otherwise accurate and shows all woodcutting 
  clearings in the forested areas.
   Characters can readily glean large pieces of furniture, 
  boards, cedar shakes, and the like if they pry and bash 
  them free of their current uses as part of buildings. And 
  if they search thoroughly, they ﬁ nd an old mallet, rusty 
  tools, and a 50-yard-long coil of old rope in a sleeping 
  loft in one of the largest cottages.
  Exploring Other Villages
  Before heading on to Shadowturrets, the group 
  might decide to explore other communities near the 
  ruins. Such ventures are beyond the scope of this 
  scenario but could feature witnesses able to give 
  the characters more information about the prowling 
  bones, offers of assistance in the forms of healing 
  and equipment. It could also feature dangers, such 
  as packs of wild dogs, opportunistic ghouls, or 
  bands of orcs attracted by the region’s unrest.
  Bones in the Air
  If the characters tarry in Ithynn’s Bridge overnight 
  or longer, a “prowling bones” comes for them. The 
  prowling bones is a bone machine that attacks when the 
  group emerges from a building. If the characters don’t 
  rest in the village, they instead encounter the creature 
  on their way to Shadowturrets, either when they round a 
  blind turn on the path in the forest or as they prepare to 
  camp for the night.
   When the bone machine appears, it rises up into a 
  tottering humanoid form that towers over the characters 
  as it advances, reaching out with limbs made of crazily 
  braced and bundled bones of all hues and origins. It 
  seeks to destroy any living thing it can reach and uses 
  the Assimilate Bones special action whenever possible.
  2
  
  Shadowturrets
  Shadowturrets looks more like a wild stand of trees 
  than it does a stone fortress. Most of it is rooﬂ ess, 
  and leafy canopies of soaring trees overhang it while 
  creepers cloak its crumbling walls. A trail of crushed
  undergrowth pierces the brambles and saplings until 
  it reaches a gaping arch-topped opening where double 
  doors once stood.
   If the characters venture behind the thick tangles of 
  vines and tree trunks, they ﬁ nd that some foul magic 
  has fused the crumbling walls together into a dull,
  pitted mass like black glass. This vitreous substance is 
  incredibly durable; it can be chiseled but won’t shatter or 
  cleave, so digging through it is a matter of tens of days.
  Magic, ﬁ re, or lightning hurled at it rebounds at its 
  source. These same properties apply to all of the 
  interior stonework of Shadowturrets.
   Locations throughout the ruin are shadowed 
  by day or dark by night. Walls tower about 10 
  yards above the ﬂ oor to crossbeams and rafters 
  overhead. Characters searching an area have a 
  1-in-6 chance of ﬁ nding something interesting. If
  so, roll another d6. An odd number indicates the
  characters ﬁ nd coins, gems, and other valuables
  worth 1d6  10 gc. An even number turns up an
  enchanted object.
  Apparent doors throughout the complex are 
  illusions masking a 1-foot-thick ﬁ eld of magical 
  darkness that swallows sound completely, 
  preventing noises from reaching through 
  the openings. As well, the illusion keeps 
  air from moving through, so characters 
  won’t smell anything from beyond the doors. 
  Creatures and objects can move through 
  these openings unimpeded, and the illusions can 
  be destroyed by magic as if they were created by a 
  rank 5 spell.
  The Ruined Entry
  Inside the entrance waits dusty darkness, no sign of what 
  happened to the doors that once stood here. A curtain 
  of massive chains hangs across the 15-yard-square area 
  about 3 yards in from the entrance. Each link is as large 
  as a horse’s head, is oiled against rust,  and is thickly 
  shrouded in dusty cobwebs. At either end of the curtain 
  is a 3-yard-wide gap, making it possible to go around 
  it. There, old bird droppings, fallen nest refuse, and 
  the rotting remains of roof beams litter the ﬂ oor. Two 
  sentinels block the way to the doors concealing access to 
  the Great Hall beyond.
  Sentinels
  Two chainbound guard the area and advance when 
  the characters appear. The chains bind their moving 
  corpses, and they shriek with each lumbering step. The 
  chainbound are too tall to ﬁ t through the closed pair 
  of tall, arched double doors in the wall behind them or 
  through front entryway, so they remain in this room.
   If any characters retreat, the chainbound use actions 
  to bash the hanging curtain to send the chains ﬂ ailing. 
  Each character within short range of the curtain must 
  get a success on an Agility challenge roll or take 3d6 
  damage.
   Animated corpses expelled from the chainbound 
  linger here until destroyed.
   If the characters venture behind the thick tangles of 
  vines and tree trunks, they ﬁ nd that some foul magic 
  has fused the crumbling walls together into a dull, 
  pitted mass like black glass. This vitreous substance is 
  incredibly durable; it can be chiseled but won’t shatter or 
  cleave, so digging through it is a matter of tens of days. 
  Magic, ﬁ re, or lightning hurled at it rebounds at its 
  source. These same properties apply to all of the 
  interior stonework of Shadowturrets.
   Locations throughout the ruin are shadowed 
  by day or dark by night. Walls tower about 10 
  yards above the ﬂ oor to crossbeams and rafters 
  overhead. Characters searching an area have a 
  1-in-6 chance of ﬁ nding something interesting. If 
  so, roll another d6. An odd number indicates the 
  characters ﬁ nd coins, gems, and other valuables 
   10 gc. An even number turns up an 
   Apparent doors throughout the complex are 
  illusions masking a 1-foot-thick ﬁ eld of magical 
  darkness that swallows sound completely, 
  preventing noises from reaching through 
  the openings. As well, the illusion keeps 
  air from moving through, so characters 
  won’t smell anything from beyond the doors. 
  Creatures and objects can move through 
  linger here until destroyed.
  The Ruined Entry
  The Great 
  The Smithy
   
  F lle we l
  Rear Hall
  Creatures and objects can move through 
  3
  
  The Watcher in the Rafters
  As the fallen roof beams attest, no roof remains above 
  this chamber, just a few crossbeam rafters. A character 
  who looks up catches sight of a tangle of metallic, 
  segmented, claw-ended tentacles centered on a single 
  malevolent red eye. Clinging aloft like a spider, it 
  watches them. This creature is a reen, and it watches the 
  combat for 1 round before going over the top of the back 
  wall, moving deeper into the ruins to warn its fellows.
  The Great Hall
  The Great Hall is a windowless chamber, 24 yards 
  wide and 40 yards long. Darkness occludes the ceiling. 
  The collapsed and decaying litter of feasting tables 
  and chairs covers the cracked, heaved ﬂ oor. Stumps of 
  hacked-oﬀ  trees that sprouted up through the ﬂ agstones 
  are scattered like tombstones across the ﬂ oor.
   Against the left-hand wall stand six stout, iron-barred 
  cages, many of which hold hunched ﬁ gures. On the wall 
  opposite where the characters entered is another pair of 
  double doors granting access to the Smithy. Everywhere 
  the characters look, they see nightmarish scenes. Shrill 
  screams ﬁ ll the air.
   This complex room has many components, all of 
  which can be challenging to run and lethal to an 
  unprepared group. 
  Clearing
  The ﬁ rst 10 yards into the hall feature a mostly clear 
  area of ﬂ agstones broken by the few stumps of trees. If 
  the reen are aware of the intruders, 4 bloody bones wait 
  here wearing the tattered remnants of cultist regalia—
  full-head owl masks and long, torn robes. Unlike other 
  bloody bones, these wretched creatures were once 
  humans and thus do not have the bloody bones’ immune 
  or iron vulnerability traits. They were transformed into 
  their horrid forms by the vile experiments of the reen, 
  creatures that can be found deeper in the hall. The 
  bloody bones attack the characters and pursue them 
  tirelessly until destroyed.
  Eight Trees
  The remains of eight trees rise from the broken ﬂ oor in 
  the next 10-yard section of the hall. Unlike the others, 
  these weren’t hewn oﬀ  low to the ﬂ oor. They were left 
  as 6-foot-high spikes on which the reen impale their 
  victims to await their transformation into bloody bones. 
  Currently, dead humans hang on them while ﬂ ies ﬁ tfully 
  buzz around the blackened dried blood. All are dressed 
  in owl-head masks and torn robes. Characters who see 
  this grisly scene must get a success on a Will challenge 
  roll or gain 1 Insanity.
  The Ceiling
  The ceiling is made in a horizontal layer of magical, 
  sound-swallowing darkness. A group of 3 reen cling 
  to the intact rafters, creeping through the gloom and 
  watching the characters. Their glowing, red eyes ﬂ icker 
  when the reen hang down from a rafter and gutter out
  when they retreat back up into it. If the characters defeat 
  the bloody bones, the reen manipulate long, metal wall-
  rods protruding from the tops of the cages to release the
  occupants as described under The Cages, following. 
  The Cages
  Each of the six cages holds a brooding, massive ogre. 
  Each has a great hammer that it uses as a seat while
  conﬁ ned. The ogres are hungry and eager to devour 
  the characters because every intruder they slay earns 
  them freedom to forage in the Duchy before the reen 
  recapture and cage them here. The ogres know better 
  than to attack a reen, or try to eat any captive strapped to 
  the tables in the Laboratory, but they attack the treasure 
  chest guardians or any other edible-looking creature in 
  the hall. They pursue possible meals anywhere.
  The Laboratory
  Screams echo through the hall from the area beyond 
  the Eight Trees. Occupying the next 20-yard length of 
  the hall are ﬁ ve sturdy wooden tables. Each is a 3-yard 
  square plank platform set on a trio of tree-trunk legs 
  arranged so their surfaces gently incline, with the head 
   
   
  The Great Hall
  The Smithy
  The Amory
  Rear Hall
  sound-swallowing darkness. A group of 
  to the intact rafters, creeping through the gloom and 
  4
  
  two feet higher than the foot. Terriﬁ ed humans in motley 
  homespun, villagers from Ithynn’s Bridge, lie spread-
  eagled, one to a table. They are held in place by means 
  of gleaming metal staples driven into the planks. Two 
  of them shriek and slobber mindlessly, and the 
  other three scream for help. Swarming over and 
  experimenting on these terriﬁ ed people are 
  another 3 reen.  They ﬁ t the humans with 
  newly made, oiled metal pincer-ended 
  limbs after chopping oﬀ  their arms to 
  accommodate the ﬁ ttings.
   The reen continue their grisly surgery as 
  the characters battle the bloody bones and 
  the ogres. But if the characters defeat 
  the reen or attack them 
  outright, they swarm 
  swiftly up cages and the 
  door-opening rods, to 
  join their brethren in the 
  rafters.
   Freeing a prisoner requires one 
  minute of work using a tool 
  kit. The prisoners are useless, 
  having been driven mad by fear 
  and pain.
  The Treasure Chest
  In the most distant section of the 
  room stands a huge treasure chest. 
  A rectangular, hoop-topped chest made from 
  blackened wood and reinforced by metal strappings, it 
  measures 3 yards deep, 12 yards wide, and 6 yards high. 
  A group of 3 bloody bones defends the chest fanatically, 
  ﬁ ghting to the death.
   Characters lifting the chest’s lid encounter the stink 
  of human blood and the sound of endless, overlapping 
  whispers. These whispered words are coming from the 
  moving mouths of a sheet of human faces down inside 
  the chest, their gazes ﬂ icking back and forth as they 
  whisper these phrases, endlessly repeated:
  • “There is no oblivion, only torment and restless
  slavery, dead but not dead, serving fell masters.”
  •  Doom, cursed doom awaits you!”
  •  There is no escape; even now, you hasten towards your
  inescapable fate!”
  •  We are all doomed to exist forever, in torment beyond
  death, cursed to vile slavery!”
  • “Cursed, cursed, never to be free!”
  • “Serving evil, tainted by evil, twisted into madness!”
  • “Foul perversion that none escape!”
  • “There is no eluding the shadow, the shadow that eats
  us all!”
  • “Blood! Rot! Decay! Doom For All!”
  • “You shall die, you shall yet be aware, though your
  body rot and fester and liquefy, sloughing oﬀ  bones, 
  as you feel every agonizing moment, trapped and 
  suﬀ ering, oh, yes, you shall die!”
  two feet higher than the foot. Terriﬁ ed humans in motley 
  homespun, villagers from Ithynn’s Bridge, lie spread-
  eagled, one to a table. They are held in place by means 
  of gleaming metal staples driven into the planks. Two 
  of them shriek and slobber mindlessly, and the 
  other three scream for help. Swarming over and 
  experimenting on these terriﬁ ed people are 
  3 reen.  They ﬁ t the humans with 
  newly made, oiled metal pincer-ended 
  limbs after chopping oﬀ  their arms to 
  accommodate the ﬁ ttings.
   The reen continue their grisly surgery as 
  the characters battle the bloody bones and 
  the ogres. But if the characters defeat 
  the reen or attack them 
  outright, they swarm 
  swiftly up cages and the 
  door-opening rods, to 
  join their brethren in the 
   Freeing a prisoner requires one 
  minute of work using a tool 
  kit. The prisoners are useless, 
  having been driven mad by fear 
  and pain.
  The Treasure Chest
  In the most distant section of the 
  room stands a huge treasure chest. 
  A rectangular, hoop-topped chest made from 
  blackened wood and reinforced by metal strappings, it 
  A group of 3 bloody bones defends the chest fanatically, 
   
   
  ry
   
   
  The Smithy
   
  5
  
   This creature is a ghastly chorus. Prevented from 
  coagulating by dark magic, the blood ﬂ oats on a pool of 
  blood that ﬁ lls the chest. The chorus rises up, hanging 
  on a blood-dripping, but otherwise invisible, animated 
  sheet of magic that grants the creature the ﬂ ier trait. The 
  chorus initially rises up from the chest to hover upright 
  (vertically) in the air, turning so its heads can best 
  survey the room, and then it swoops down to attack the 
  characters, biting and grabbing with its mouths.
  The Smithy
  Through the illusory doors is a 24-yard-square 
  windowless room with an intact roof of overlapping tiles 
  pegged atop boards nailed to openwork roof trusses. In 
  its far wall is another closed pair of arch-topped double 
  doors that are illusions like the other doors in this place.
   This room is full of the din created by human smiths 
  hammering out metal tools on anvils and the roaring of 
  their bellows. A huge hearth stands at the center of the 
  room, and 2 horned ogres  work the bellows behind it.
   Three blacksmiths share the hearth, one right in 
  front of it and one to either side, each with an anvil, 
  a hammer, tongs, a scorched and scarred wooden 
  workbench of massive construction, and a slake-bucket. 
  They wear locked metal collars connected by long 
  chains to diﬀ erent anchor points in the rafters. 
   The horned ogres are also captives, tethered to anvils 
  by 24-yard-long chains. When not working the bellows, 
  they act as guards. Each wields a hammer and carries a 
  long blade thrust through a wide waist-and-shoulder-
  belt harness. When the character appear, they abandon 
  the bellows as they lumber forward to attack.
   All of this occurs under the watchful eyes of 4 reen 
  who peer out from the rafters, well out of reach. They 
  have bolt holes at the ends of the room that allow them 
  to scuttle freely into either the Great Hall or the Armory, 
  and they won’t tarry when battle goes against their 
  captives.
   The smiths were taken from the three villages: They 
  are Andeimus Thaerlo from Ithynn’s Bridge, Imthur 
  Dereth from Culthaera, and Ostrar Waerel from Frelbrot. 
  They fashioned all the chains, manacles, and cages in 
  Shadowturrets, as well as the gigantic arm in the Armory 
  (see The Armory, following). They are weary and won’t 
  ﬁ ght the characters. They are grateful if helped to 
  escape and can explain to the group what’s going on in 
  Shadowturrets. Namely, the reen control everything after 
  having defeated and captured the cultists they found 
  here. The smiths were brought in hooded and bound, 
  and they don’t know the layout of the place because they 
  have been conﬁ ned in this room.
   The heat of the forge is everywhere; it’s fueled by cut 
  and split wood that lies heaped against the side walls 
  beyond the hearth. Ogres thrust it into the forge with 
  long metal rods, and the smoke of the ﬁ res rises up into 
  a weirdly ﬂ ickering, blue-green cloud that vanishes, as if 
  sucked up.
  The Armory
  Through the next set of doors is another room 12 yards 
  wide by 24 yards long. It has the usual illusory 6-yard-
  wide, closed double doors set in its rear wall. 
  The Fist
  A 6-yard-square stone base stands 3 yards in front of 
  the doors; its two side walls support a huge, greasy 
  hemisphere of metal in which a smooth metal sphere 
  sits. It’s the swivel joint of a huge mechanical arm that 
  looks like a gauntlet-clad, plate-armored forearm of a 
  giant. The arm has a swivel-jointed wrist and elbow, 
  metal ﬁ ngertips, and exposed control rods that make it 
  turn, grasp, and punch. Its forearm utilizes expanding 
  “scissors” construction to enable the arm to lengthen 
  or retract; it can just reach the front of the room where 
  characters enter. Within the “scissors” sits a cage of 
  closely spaced metal bars with interlocking teeth that 
  close between those bars like a Venus ﬂ ytrap. Boiling 
  and seething inside the cage are 16 lash crawlers, which 
  serve as fuel—each punch or grasp of the arm causes a 
  magical ﬂ ash to vaporize one crawler.
   
   ntry
   
   
  l
   
  The Amory
  6
  
  MECHANICAL ARM 
  Size 10 Construct
  Perception —
  Defense 5; Health 100
  Strength 0 (–10), Agility 0 (–10), Intellect —, Will —
  Speed 0
  Immune attacks against Perception or attributes; gaining 
  Insanity; all afﬂ ictions
  Accursed Transformation A living creature that takes 
  damage from the mechanical arm must make a Will 
  challenge roll. For each time the creature makes the roll 
  after the ﬁ rst, it makes the roll with 1 bane. On a failure, 
  the creature suffers one of the following permanent 
  effects, progressing in the order listed:
  • The creature loses its hair and begins to exude slime
  from its body.
  • The creature becomes thickset, its legs go squat and
  thick, and its feet shift to elephant-toed stumps.
  • The creature’s arms become thick and club-like, hands
  change to have only three strong, stubby opposed
  ﬁ ngers.
  • The creature’s genitalia melt away.
  • The creature’s head melts down into its torso, making its
  neck disappear.
  • The creature’s eyes and nose disappear and are slowly
  replaced by the ability to see and smell through the
  continually renewed layer of body slime.
  • The creature’s mouth shifts and enlarges, until it splits
  most of the torso, opening where the neck was and
  becoming a huge maw. At this ﬁ nal change, the creature
  fully becomes a muttering maw and retains none of the
  capabilities it had before its transformation.
  SPECIAL ATTACKS 
  Mechanized Fisting It takes at least four creatures using 
  an action together to control the arm and make it attack 
  everything in a 4-yard cube centered on a point within 
  10 yards of the arm. Each creature in the area must make 
  an Agility challenge roll with 2 banes. A target creature 
  takes 6d6 damage on a failure or half the damage on 
  a success. A living creature that takes this damage is 
  subject to Accursed Transformation. 
  If the total of a creature’s challenge roll is 0 or less, 
  it ﬂ ies 2d6 yards away from the arm and falls prone. If 
  the creature’s movement would send it into another 
  creature’s space, it and the creature take 1d6 damage 
  and the creature whose space was entered must get a 
  success on an Agility challenge roll or fall prone.
   The great mechanical arm is a prototype. The 8 reen 
  swarming over it enthusiastically experiment with it on 
  any handy characters. It takes 4 reen using an action 
  together to attack with the giant arm. 
  The reen in this room stand and ﬁ ght the characters 
  rather than retreat. Regardless of any movements of 
  reen to depart previous rooms, the characters face only 
  the 8 here. 
  Fallenwell
  Through the doors from the Armory is a square 
  chamber, about 24 yards on a side, with a deep, yawning 
  pit at the center, a hole created by the collapse of several 
  rooms into a great cavern below. Walls and columns lean 
  and groan perilously all around the hole’s edges.
   The intact ﬂ oor around the pit is cracked and broken, 
  typically about 6 yards from the wall to the ragged edge 
  of the pit. Across the pit is the room’s far, rear wall with 
  the familiar 6-yard-wide opening but no darkness or 
  illusory double doors: Through the archway characters 
  can see a bright, eerie, ﬂ ickering, emerald-green 
  radiance in the shape of an upright spindle in midair.
   From high up, 4 reen watch the characters. In the 
  pit, 14 lash crawlers scuttle about, boldly rushing at 
  the characters to swarm any isolated from the rest and 
  extract their eyes.
   Area spells cast here have a 2-in-6 chance of collapsing 
  the walls and dragging the group and anyone else in 
  this room into the pit. A character in the room must 
  succeed on an Agility challenge roll with 2 banes or 
  fall into the pit.
   Anything that falls into the pit takes 8d6 damage 
  upon landing on the debris at the bottom. If the room 
  collapses, falling debris inﬂ icts 8d6 extra damage. 
  Characters in the pit can make Agility challenge rolls 
  to halve this extra damage.
   
   
   
   
   
   
  Fallenwell
   
  7
  
  Rear Hall
  If the characters get past the great gulf of 
  Fallenwell and move through its open rear 
  archway, they come to a 24-yard-square 
  room. A 3-yard-wide archway lies in 
  the center of the right-side wall 
  and opens into another 24-yard-
  square room. Both have intact 
  roofs and no other windows 
  or doors.
   Dominating the ﬁ rst room 
  is an upright spindle-shaped 
  area of ﬂ ickering emerald-white 
  magical radiance that fuses 
  together captured humans, 
  giants, and oxen thrust into it 
  to create bone machines.
   Here, 4 reen tend and feed 
  the unholy magic by forcing 
  creatures into it. They keep their 
  victims as captives in the second 
  room by means of a welded iron 
  gate that stretches across its 
  entrance. An additional 2 reen 
  cling to and ﬂ ail at any creature 
  trying to move past it. When 
  the characters enter the room, the reen 
  have just thrust two oxen into the magical 
  radiance, which stumble out as 2 bone machines.
   The second room is crowded with 12 milling, bawling 
  oxen and 5 captured humans, including 2 New Followers 
  of the Seer cultists, who cry out for rescue and oﬀ er 
  to lead the characters to the riches of their cult. They 
  can explain what’s happened in Shadowturrets. The 
  characters also ﬁ nd a helpless heap of 7 naked giants; 
  the reen broke their joints so they can’t walk or ﬁ ght.
  Aftermath
  Not all of the reen stay to ﬁ ght the characters. If the 
  characters defeat the majority of the reen, the rest slip 
  away and spy on the characters, thwarting their doings 
  or manipulating them into conﬂ ict with other reen 
  targets. If the reen retain the smiths and the spindle, 
  they ignore the characters as an annoyance. They don’t 
  fully understand the spindle and want to continue 
  experimenting with it.
   The spindle of magic can’t be readily or easily 
  destroyed—the methods by which the group would 
  make the attempt are left to you. The radiance occupies 
  one of the few useful and intact areas of Shadowturrets. 
  If the characters abandon it, the reen attempt to 
  repossess it to continue generating and sending forth 
  bone machines to wander this part of the Duchy of the 
  West. You can improvise other powers and uses for the 
  spindle if the characters experiment with it—or the 
  Grand Duke takes possession of it.
   If the characters succeed and don’t immediately 
  hasten to claim their reward, the Duke’s spies bring 
  word of the group’s success to him. The Grand Duke 
  has no intention of allowing anyone to gain control 
  over so much of his Duchy, so success in this adventure 
  plunges the characters into trouble of a diﬀ erent kind.
   Grand Duke George Vanderbrun expresses delight 
  and conﬁ rms their land grant with splendid-looking 
  documents. He confers them in a long,  tiresome 
  ceremony of much pomp that includes marching 
  soldiery and music and odes about the heroism of the 
  characters. After the public performance, the Duke 
  attempts to poison the characters at the following feast. 
  If the characters survive, they encounter desperate 
  outlaw attacks whenever the Grand Duke’s spies inform 
  him they’re exhausted, asleep, or split up.
   A few members of the New Followers of the Seer 
  escaped the debacle at Shadowturrets and try to covertly 
  recruit the characters, who are now privy to their 
  secrets. The cultists oﬀ er dark magic secrets to lure the 
  characters. If any character accepts, he or she instantly 
  becomes a foe and target of any other sects and rulers 
  y
   
  If the characters get past the great gulf of 
  Fallenwell and move through its open rear 
  archway, they come to a 24-yard-square 
  room. A 3-yard-wide archway lies in 
  you desire.
   
   
   
   
   
   
  Rear Hall
  hasten to claim their reward, the Duke’s spies bring 
  word of the group’s success to him. The Grand Duke 
  8
  
SOURCE: textdata/thevault/Shadow of the Demon Lord/Adventures/Master/SotDL - Darkness in Shadowturrets (master).pdf