™ THE SPIRE By SampleMonte fileCook ® WWW.PTOLUS.COM 2 PTOLUS: THE SPIRE TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION ■ Introduction Where Do I Start? . .4 Page Numbering . .4 The Worst Place in the World . .5 Acknowledgments . .5 What is Ptolus? . .5 ABOVE THE CITY ■ Goth Gulgamel Fortress Layout . .8 Goth Gulgamel Scenarios . .20 Inhabitants . .6 1. Main Entrance . .8 Recovery Mission . .20 Soul Riders . .6 2. Razorwire Tunnel . .8 Find the Staff of the Magi . .20 Ochremeshk . .6 3. Tower of the Guardians . .8 Getting to Dreta Phantas . .20 Urthon Aedar . .7 4. Ghul’s Tower . .8 The Nature of Goth Gulgamel . .7 5. Ancient Armories . .8 ■ Jabel Shammar Reaching and Entering 6. Old Barracks . .9 The Look and Feel of Goth Gulgamel . .7 7.Sample Hall of Shadows file . .9 Jabel Shammar . .21 Walls, Doors, and Décor . .7 8. Tower of the Harrowing . .10 The Nature of Jabel Shammar . .22 The Dread . .7 9. Courtyard and Side Magical Effects . .22 Extradimensional Spaces . .7 Entrance . .10 The Malignancy . .23 The Utterdark . .7 10. Old Storage . .10 Malefic Masks . .25 11. Old Temple . .10 Entering Jabel Shammar . .25 12. Chamber of Cold . .10 Misbegotten Tower . .26 13. Lookout Tower . .10 Level 1: Storehouse . .26 14. Path of Burning Souls . .11 Level 2: Entry . .27 15. Passage to the Orc Caves .12 Level 3: Guardians . .27 16. Minor Vault . .12 Level 4: Laboratory . .27 17. Blood Temple . .12 Level 5: Custodians . .28 18. Blood Priest . .13 Level 6: Trophies . .29 19. The Laboratory . .13 Level 7: Misbegotten Master .29 20. Lair of the Rakshasa Tower of Blasphemy . .31 Lord . .13 Level 1: Grip of the Unholy . .31 21. More Rakshasas . .14 Level 2: Cenotaph 22. Mausoleum of the Of Darkness . .31 Cthorn . .15 Level 3: Sunslayer . .32 23. Chamber of Level 4: Revestry Immortal Fears . .17 of Sacrilege . .32 24. Urthon Aedar Sentry . .18 Level 5: Temple of Impiety . .33 25. Entropy Sphere and Forlorn Tower . .34 Gates of Delirium . .19 The Dread One’s Despair . .34 TABLE OF CONTENTS 3 CREDITS WRITING: Monte Cook EDITING AND PRODUCTION: Sue Weinlein Cook COVER ART AND LOGO: Todd Lockwood CARTOGRAPHY: Ed Bourelle FEATURED ARTISTS: Jason Engle, The Forge Studios (Maciej Zagórski and Pawel Dobosz), Michael Komarck, Eric Lofgren, Howard Lyon, and Michael Phillippi. CONTRIBUTING ARTISTS: Toren “MacBin” Atkinson, Kev Crossley, Talon Dunning, Brian LeBlanc, Alan Pollack, rk post, Peter Schlough, J.D. Sparks, Arne Swekel, Tower of Malice . .35 APPENDIX Sam Wood, and Kieran Yanner Characteristics . .35 GRAPHIC DESIGN: Level 1: Entry . .37 Lisa Chido and Brian Rasmussen Level 2: Throne of ■ Maps and More the Dread One . .38 Open Game License . .58 TYPESETTING: Legal . .58 Level 3: Hall of Twisted Lisa Chido Reflections . .39 City Map . .59 Level 4: Guest Chambers . .39 GothSample Gulgamel Map . file. .60 PROOFREADING: Level 5: Court of Hate . .40 Jabel Shammar Map . .61 Brian Gute and Miranda Horner Level 6: Sanctuary . .41 Jabel Shammar Dungeon Map .62 INDEXING: Level 7: Galleries . .42 Level 8: Residences . .42 Lori Ann Curley Level 9: Library . .43 GUIDE TO THE PTOLUS PDFS MIDTOWN PARTISAN: Level 10: Dread One’s Throughout this book you will find Erik Mona Residence . .44 references in the text and in the side- Information Panel: The Seven panels to other books in the PT series PTOLUS RESIDENTS: Jewels of Parnaith . .46 of Ptolus PDF editions. For your con- Michele Carter, Andy Collins, Sue Level 11: Trial of the Book . .49 venience, here’s a listing of all the titles Cook, Bruce R. Cordell, Jesse Decker, Heart of the Malignancy . .49 in the series and their corresponding Erik Mona, Christopher Perkins, Sean Sub-Level 1: Dungeons . .52 title codes: K Reynolds, and Keith Strohm Sub-Level 2: Dread A Player’s Guide to Ptolus PT1 One’s Path . .57 VISITORS TO THE CITY: The World of Praemal PT2 Sub-Level 3: The Baneheart . .57 Steven “Stan!” Brown, Jeff Quick, Keri Jabel Shammar Scenarios . .57 Organizations PT3 Reynolds, Charles Ryan, Ed Stark, and Something Stirs Once Again .57 Districts of the City, Vol. 1 PT4 James Wyatt Recover Parnaith’s Heart . .57 Districts of the City, Vol. 2 PT5 DM’s Companion PT6 Rescue the Dwarven Queen . .57 HEROES OF ANCIENT PRAEMAL: Beneath the Streets PT7 Destroy the Signet of Michele Carter, Bruce R. Cordell, Shallamoth Kindred . .57 Adventures PT8 Christopher Perkins, John Rateliff, Wrapping up Adventures The Spire PT9 in Jabel Shammar . .57 Teresa Reid, and Sean K Reynolds 4 PTOLUS: THE SPIRE INTRODUCTION Soaring above the characters’ heads at all times, the Spire is both awe-inspiring and daunting. Although it is often obscured by clouds, it poses an everpresent threat and a reminder of the region’s dark history. PAGE NUMBERING elcome to The Spire, a book that those are for the DM to reveal as time goes on. details the most foul and evil place DMs should print out a copy for each player. Two sets of page numbers appear Sample file in the world of Praemal—which just Let everyone have a chance to learn about the at the top of the pages that come W so happens to lie next to the City of Ptolus. The city and get a feel for the setting. after this introduction. The main material in this book corresponds directly to Where you go next depends on how you’re page numbers correspond to this Chapters 24 and 25 in Ptolus: Monte Cook’s going to use Ptolus. If you want it to be your book’s table of contents. The ones City by the Spire. campaign setting, start reading The World of in parenthesis correspond to the This is one in a series of nine Ptolus PDF Praemal and learn all the basics of the world. page numbers of the Ptolus print releases from Malhavoc Press. When used togeth- If Ptolus is destined to become a city in your book. They are there so you can er, they comprise the entirety of the Ptolus print existing world, jump straight to the Districts of properly check the side-panel cross- book. Each one is also usable on its own for city- the City PDFs and read about the various parts references of important words that based fantasy d20 roleplaying campaigns. of town. you’ll find boldfaced throughout If you only want to mine the setting for ideas, this book. These cross-references tell WHERE DO I START? flip through the various PDF releases that inter- you where to find more information If you’ve purchased this book as a general est you and look at whatever strikes your fancy. about a given term, character, or sourcebook and you’re not sure what Ptolus is, You’ll find interesting city locales, strange and place. They direct you to either a check out the sidebar on the next page for a fascinating NPCs, dungeon complexes, evil page number in this book, a chapter primer on the product and the city it details. If fortresses, haunted ruins, complex organiza- in another book, or a page number on the other hand you’re starting to plan your tions, a few new races, monsters, prestige class- and title code of another install- own Ptolus Campaign, here are a few guidelines es, spells, and a lot more. ment of the PT series. We reference on how to get started. Ready-made adventures for characters of the page numbers from the print Whether you are a player or a DM, start by level 1 to 4 are available in this book. For those book so that, whatever edition of reading A Player’s Guide to Ptolus. That of you who need adventures beyond those Ptolus you have, you can discuss book—free to download as a PDF at offered here, check out the ninety-six-page page references with friends and <www.ptolus.com>—provides a quick overview Night of Dissolution Ptolus adventure. It pro- not risk any confusion. Look for of everything else in the book. Of course, it vides an exciting Ptolus-based adventure for a rundown of all PT title codes doesn’t go into any of the secrets of the setting— 4th- to 9th-level characters. in this book’s Table of Contents. INTRODUCTION 5 If you want to read every last bit of information description of the stronghold plus ideas for stag- available on the city, look for two Ptolus-related ing an exciting campaign climax there. products previously released by Malhavoc Press: The locations described in this book are The Banewarrens and Chaositech. designed for high-level characters. To delve even deeper into Ptolus, check out the The Appendix of this book includes full-color official comic book, published by DB Pro, available maps of both fortresses for the DM’s use. from Diamond Comics. We’re also proud to offer Throughout The Spire, all references to spells, metal miniatures from Paizo Publishing, specialty feats, and other rules come either from this book map products from cartographer Ed Bourelle’s or from the v. 3.5 revision of the three Core SkeletonKey Games, architectural sketchbooks Rulebooks: the Player’s Handbook, DMG, and from The Forge, and the Ptolus Counter MM. This book is protected content except for Collection from Fiery Dragon Productions. items specifically called out as Open Game Content on the Legal page. For full details, please THE WORST PLACE turn to the Appendix. Open content is not other- wise marked in the text of this book. IN THE WORLD Bonus source material and ideas to augment In this book you will find details about the two the information in the Ptolus PDFs appear on my fortresses on the Spire.