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DRESDEN'S DEMONS
An adventure for 5th to 7th level characters

by Alex of TavernTales
Maps by Tom Cartos
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 DRESDEN'S DEMONS
An adventure for 5th to 7th level characters

D
resden shouts for folxi to get back
as he focusses his energy on the abyssal
portal that slowly begins to tear itself
open in front of him. Years of work have
culminated in this most dangerous step of
his research. How else to acquire demon
blood than to summon and dominate a demon? A wicked
creature of fang and claw begins to climb through the
wound in reality. Behind it, other beasts of horror follow
close. Dresden's vision starts to cloud and his limbs stiffen
as the power of the summoning quickly drains his energy.
Tragically, unexpectedly, he collapses unconscious. Folxi,
panicked, but remembering Dresden's instructions in the
case of emergency, races downwards from the top floor
towards the Forceful Containment Contingency Device.
Quickly scrambling down the winding stone steps, she soon
finds the embossed bronze lever in the first floor living
room and yanks it downwards with all of her might. There
is a sound of rushing wind as carvings etched into the walls
come alive, sealing the upper levels of the tower with a
powerful wall of force spell and activating its residual defence
mechanisms. The stillness of night is suddenly interrupted
by the near-blinding flash of an elven rune emblazoned high
into the sky. It can be seen for miles, its harsh purple light
basking the treetops in an eerie glow and forcing the wildlife
awake with its message — a clear signal for those who can
interpret it: "help".
Adventure Hooks
• The players may have seen the tower's distress signal and
have come to investigate the area.
• The players may have been looking to seek the aid of a
wizard on their own accord and have arrived just in time
to help.
Approach
Dresden's tower sits atop a rugged hill, accessible through
a narrow, winding path up the hillside. If the party is not
already familiar, its precise location can be easily determined
by following the signal that has been displayed directly above
it. At the top of the climb, a signpost stands beside a bench
and an unlit brazier at the base of the tower. The sign reads:
"Please do not disturb. I am very busy. No longer accepting
new apprentices." A large, locked oak door restricts entry
into the tower, adorned with a heavy brass knocker carved
to resemble the head of an owl. If the adventurers knock on
the door or call out in any way, the door opens and they are
hastily greeted and ushered inside by Folxi, a female gnome
and Dresden's last remaining apprentice.
A. Main Floor
Folxi leads the adventurers through a small vestibule and up
a small set of stairs into the main floor of the tower; a cozy,
ornately furnished room that acts as a common area. Two
tall stone statues, one of a male elf and the other a female,
stand silently beside the entryway. Across, embers smolder in
a brick fireplace. A set dining table, wardrobe, liquor cabinet,
and coffee table flanked by three chairs fill the room, as well
as other scattered end tables holding oddities and curios.
Adjacent to the staircase leading upwards, a crackling ball of
blue light is housed atop a granite pedestal, surrounded by a
symmetrical arrangement of bronze bands that hum softly. A
lever extends from the pedestal in the downward position.
Introduction. Folxi, hurriedly, thanks the adventurers for
coming. She introduces herself and explains, to the best of
her knowledge, what has happened and what must be done
to help. She reveals any or all of the following information:

• Dresden was trying to summon and

Overview imprison a demon so that he could drain its
blood for research.
Demons have been let loose inside Dresden's tower after
• He prepared for this summoning for years,
a failed summoning ritual. Dresden, who secretly suffers
and prepared Folxi in the event of his
from a magical ailment, hoped that demon blood held the
failure.
key to his cure. Including the basement and roof, there are
• The energy of the summoning drained
ten levels to the tower in total. Levels two through nine,
him and Dresden lost consciousness,
comprising everything between the basement and the roof,
allowing the portal to remain open and
are circular rooms 40 feet in diameter. Ceilings are 20 feet
for uncontrolled abyssal horrors to filter
high. Two adjacent sets of winding stone staircases provide
through it.
access between floors. The tower is constructed of hewn
basalt and smells faintly of aged whisky and jasmine, courtesy
of incense burners that Dresden keeps on all floors. Unless
otherwise stated, the tower is kept lit by ever-burning
torches. Doors are made of thick, polished oak and open
inward on their hinges.

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• Now unconscious or dead at the top of the tower, Dresden
had instructed Folxi to run downstairs and activate the
Forceful Containment Contingency Device (the ball of
light on the pedestal), which summons a wall of force spell
to quarantine the lower level of the tower and enable
back-up locking mechanisms between floors.
• Using an old notebook that Dresden keeps in the liquor
cabinet to help them navigate through the tower's
defenses, the adventurers must ascend the tower, slay any
beasts they encounter on their way, close the portal, and if
possible, rescue Dresden.
When they are ready, Folxi will temporarily deactivate
the Forceful Containment Contingency Device, which will
drop the wall of force from the ascending staircase and allow
their advance.
A character who makes a successful DC 15 Wisdom
(Insight) check will reasonably determine that Folxi is
withholding some information. If pressured, she will reveal
that this was actually a second, riskier summoning attempted
by Dresden, and that he already keeps a demon imprisoned in
the tower's basement from an earlier successful summoning.
Folxi is terrified of what lurks above, and is reluctant to
accompany the adventurers. She may be convinced with a
successful DC 15 Charisma (Persuasion) check. She uses cult
fanatic statistics.
Dresden's Notebook. At Folxi's instruction, the adventurers
can find an old leather notebook tucked behind bottles
of whisky in the liquor cabinet. Many of the pages are
indecipherable arcane scribblings and random notes, but the
last page is headered with the word "ACCESS" in big, block
lettering, and contains three hastily written, brief notes:
• "In times past - third from top, second red"
• "turn the world on its head"
• "bildebubby"
The first two notes are two separate clues for rooms E and
F that provide instructions for how to bypass their defenses.
The third note is the password for the arcane lock that
protects the door to area D.
B. Basement Living Quarters
This floor is divided into four smaller separate rooms: two
bedrooms (each with two beds), a kitchen area, and a pantry.
The bedrooms are mostly bare; desks and wardrobes are
empty. Three of the beds are neatly made, the other untidy.
A sealed window looks out from the north bedroom.
This floor used to house Dresden's other apprentices,
but they agreed with Dresden to mutually part ways as he
became more dedicated to demon summoning. Folxi is the
only one that remains. A trapdoor in the pantry leads to the
dungeon below. The door is locked and protected by a glyph
of warding, which activates if anyone tries to open the door
and which a character may notice with a successful DC 13
Wisdom (Perception) check. The door's lock can be picked
with a successful DC 16 Dexterity check using thieves' tools.
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C. Holding Cells
Much of the tower dungeon is divided into individual
holding cells, all of which are currently empty of inhabitants
and shrouded in darkness. Characters exploring the cells who
succeed on a DC 13 Wisdom (Perception) check can find a
small pile of bones inside an iron cage in the northern cell. A
DC 12 Wisdom (Medicine) check reveals that the bones are
goblinoid. Dresden originally used to these cells to hold and
experiment on goblins and other smaller, chaotic creatures,
but Folxi eventually convinced him to stop.
D. Bound Barlgura
The door to this chamber is sealed with an arcane lock
spell (the password is "bildebubby") and protected by a
glyph of warding that can be noticed with a DC 15 Wisdom
(Perception) check. Inside, four thick iron chains that glow
with a purple light sprout from equidistant points in the
room and shackle the limbs of a barlgura, restraining it. The
barlgura communicates telepathically with the adventurers
in the room, offering them "untold power" if they agree to
break its chains and free it, explaining that it "wants only
to destroy the wizard". The chains are enchanted with null
magic, preventing the barlgura from using its spellcasting,
and each must be dispelled for it to be freed. A DC 12
Wisdom (Insight) check or a successful DC 12 Intelligence
(History or Arcana) check can determine that the barlgura is
incredibly dangerous and highly likely to attack anything in
its path, regardless of the promises it makes.
E. Library
The staircase from the main floor ascends to a smaller
vestibule area that connects to the tower's library — a
densely-packed network of nooks and crannies stacked
tightly with shelves upon shelves of tomes and scrolls. In
the middle of the library, a two armchairs are pushed into
a circular wooden desk littered with parchment, quills, and
inkwells. Six quasits currently inhabit the library. Three are
standing on the table in the middle of the room, kicking over
the inkwells. The other three have made themselves invisible
and are pulling books off of shelves with reckless abandon.
After descending the tower to chase after Folxi, they were
locked into the library once she activated the Forceful
Containment Contingency Device. They attack immediately
and fight until they are destroyed.
Secret Door. The library is divided into subject-specific
sections. The middle bookshelf in the History section ("in
times past") is the key to access the upper floors. On the
third shelf from the top ("third from top"), there are two red
books amongst various others. Pulling free the red book on
the right-hand side ("second red") deactivates the defense
mechanism, retracting a thick stone wall on the east side of
the room and revealing the door leading to the ascending
staircase.
Treasure. Characters who make a successful DC 12
Wisdom (Perception) check of the library will notice two
spell scrolls placed conspicuously in the same bookshelf that
activates the secret door. The two scrolls — Dispel Magic
(6th level) and Banishment — were left there deliberately by
Dresden months ago in case of disaster.
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 of turning the globe in the centre of the sphere "on its head",
F. Laboratory or, more literally, completely sideways, at which point a loud
grinding can be heard as the wall retracts and reveals the
This floor of the tower serves as Dresden's laboratory. The
way forward.
room is in complete disarray — the quasits tore through
it on their way downstairs. A scaled world map has been
Treasure. The lab is mostly empty of immediately useful
painted on the floor to cover much of the middle of the
creations, though a character who succeeds on a DC 12
room, though is now partially obscured by shards of glass
Wisdom (Perception) check can find a single Potion of Greater
and a toppled globe that has been knocked off of a nearby
Healing that remains intact inside a desk drawer.
pedestal. Various surveying devices, including an astrolabe,
a compass, and an armillary sphere are mounted on other
pedestals throughout, many of which have sustained chips
and dents to their metal frames. Two desks, opposite each
other, line the north and south walls and hold notebooks,
small puzzle boxes belonging to Dresden, and various arcane
ingredients. Shelves hang on the walls and are mostly empty,
their contents having been knocked to the floor.

Blood vats. Along the north wall, steam whistles through

the top of four brass vats connected by networks of tubes.
Dresden is attempting to synthesize an artificial demon
blood in the vats but has not yet come close to success. The
liquid amalgamation inside is highly corrosive and stings
the nostrils.

Secret Door. A wall obscures the secret door leading to

the staircase above. The key to retracting the wall lies in the
armillary sphere. A character may infer this automatically
with a successful DC 15 Intelligence (Investigation) check.
Adventurers must "turn the world on its head" — they can do
this by manipulating the joint on which the sphere connects
to the pedestal below to 0 degrees, which will have the effect

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G. Conservatory
This floor of the tower is used as a conservatory, where
Dresden grows plants for purposes both mundane and
arcane. The walls are lined with planters stuffed with foliage
of varying sizes and colors. In the middle of the room, an
immense red and white speckled flower with thick leaves
grows in an 8-foot diameter pot. A young, handsome looking
man with silver hair is shaving trimmings from the flower
using a decorated dagger.
Arcanoloth. The man, named Rikken, is an arcanoloth
in disguise. A mercenary in the Blood War, he heard that a
portal had been opened to a wizard's tower on the material
plane and happened to be "in the neighborhood". He hopes
to acquire anything of magical value that he can to further
his own interests. He is specifically curious about the red
flower, which he (correctly) suspects has been grown in
demon blood. Rikken is not looking to fight the adventurers
— he doesn't want to risk damaging what he has collected
so far. If the opportunity arises, Rikken offers to cast helpful
spells on the characters to aid in their upcoming fight against
what lurks above in exchange for anything of value that they
have acquired from the tower's lower floors. If the characters
offer him a spell scroll or similar item, he casts death ward on
each party member. He happily explains to the adventurers
that he is just "here for a quick visit" and means them no
harm. If attacked, Rikken escapes using dimension door after
one round. If left alone, Rikken disappears similarly once the
portal has been dealt with.
H. Dresden's Room
This floor, Dresden's personal quarters, has been left in
similar disarray as the others. A double bed, desk, dresser,
full-length mirror, and bathing tub fill much of the space.
The floor is littered with books and loose parchment. A
doorway to the balcony beyond shimmers slightly in the
light, protected by the Forceful Containment Contingency
Device. Characters who succeed on a DC 12 Wisdom
(Perception) check find a leather-bound journal jammed
between the mattress and the frame of the bed. The journal
belongs to Dresden. If characters take the time to skim it,
they may learn the following information:
• Dresden has been sick for some time with a mystical
ailment that is slowly draining his physical and magical
energies
• After much research, he believes demon blood may hold
his cure. He hopes to reverse-engineer the demon blood
so that he may recreate its immortal properties free from
abyssal influence.
• He has been draining the blood of the demon kept in the
basement for months, which he summoned previously.

Flower. The flower has been grown in soil infused with

drops of demon blood. Dresden hopes that by slowly
ingesting pieces of the flower, he may receive benefits
of the blood's immortal properties and stem his ailment.
Creatures who ingest part of the flower must succeed a DC
16 Constitution saving throw or take 4d6 acid damage and be
poisoned for 24 hours.

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I. Portal
A sulphuric stench overpowers the senses as the adventurers
ascend the staircase from Dresden's quarters. Characters
who make a successful DC 12 Wisdom (Perception) check
can hear abyssal chanting coming from beyond the door at
the top of the staircase. Inside, a hezrou and four quasits are
attempting to call forth more demons through the portal that
has been opened in the middle of the room, which radiates a
stifling heat. Channels carved into the floor glow bright red
with magic. Dresden's body lies crumpled on the floor in the
eastern side of the room.
Conclusion
The exact ending of this adventure, as well as the personality
of Dresden and how he reacts to the adventurers, is left up
to the DM. Perhaps he is deeply ashamed of his mistake and
is reluctant to share any information with the party. Perhaps
instead, he believes that they may help him find a cure for his
ailment. Perhaps he rewards them with a powerful magical
item. The DM is encouraged to mold the adventure in the
way that best fits their game.

The Portal. The portal maintains a continuous connection

between Dresden's tower and the abyss and can be closed
with dispel magic (DC 16). If left undisturbed, 2d4 various
demons emerge from the portal every six hours.

Dresden. The energy required for the summoning ritual

has incapacitated Dresden. Miraculously, the demons have
left his body undisturbed. Dresden can be shaken awake but
is incredibly disoriented and weak. If Dresden receives at
least 15 points of healing, his brain fog clears, and he is able
to regain parts of his strength and senses. At this point, if the
characters have not been able to close the portal themselves,
Dresden dispels it.

J. Altar
The carcass of a goat lies on a stone altar atop raised dais
in the centre of the room, its surface stained with blood.
The floor is etched with abyssal runes that glow a soft red.
In the four cardinal directions of the room, metal braziers
burn fiercely with orange flame. Dresden used this room to
perform the sacrifices necessary to conduct his summonings.
The carcass is fresh, its throat slit, having been killed
just hours ago.

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Credits
Written by: Alexander LeFort of TavernTales
Map by: Tom Cartos
InDesign Base Template: Nathaniel Roux