OSR The Spire in the Hills

It is mid-summer, a time of hot dry days and cool, almost cold nights here in the basin.  Someone, perhaps the Saka scout from the previous adventure, has heard that shepherds on the north edge of the basin have seen a tower or spire that was not seen last summer, the last time that they brought their sheep to graze in the cool hills. Others have probably heard about it but there has been no word from any of the guilds in the town or any of the nearby bands of Saka that anyone is doing anything about it. Someone the group knows, very likely the High Priest of the Blue Pool, looked for mentions of a tower in those hills in the library.

They found ample mention, from before the basin dried up. There was a wizard in the hills who was creating new spells and had not accepted any apprentices in many years, so little was known about his activities. He married a wealthy merchant widow and had a tower constructed and was not seen in towns or cities again. The word “wizard,” sometimes “true wizard” meant something other than “a powerful mage” back then and it still does. He was reportedly quite wealthy in his own right. Nothing has been heard of him in centuries and the Initiate thinks people stopped seeing his tower several hundred years ago. They think that the tower must have been hidden by a spell and either the wizard had intended it to reappear or the mana powering it ran out.

This adventure is meant for four to six or so characters that have done some adventuring. Characters who have been through the OSR Blue Pool adventure would be ideal. Advancement differs from campaign to campaign but I think that the characters who went through that adventure would be from third to fifth level, maybe higher, depending in part on how many of the side trips the party made. Some characters might be replaced by new recruits. If you, the GM, has been designing your own adventures, the characters might be a few levels higher and there Is no harm in that.