Page 41 - ghosts-of-saltmarsh

HOUSE INTERIOR 2. LIBRARY
The house's interior is dilapidated and damp. with
patches of harmless mold everywhere. The woodwork
This room was once a library, with bookshelves around
is generally rotten. cobwebs and dust are thick, and
the walls. Most of the shelves are broken, and in many
rubbish is scattered everywhere. Plaster fallen from
the walls and ceiJing lies strewn across the floor, along places they have come away from the wall. The few
with the shattered remains of vandalized furniture. shelves still intact are empty, but a pile of books rests in
Fireplaces (with chimneys too narrow to climb) show no the southwest corner.
signs of recent use. •
All house corridors are 5 feet wide and 10 feet high;
all ceilings are 10 feet high except for the attic level The fourteen books in the heap untidily thrown into the
where, because of the sloping roof. the height ranges corner are covered with cobwebs, vermin droppings.
from I foot at the sides to 15 feet in the center. and harmless mold. All are partially ruined but are still
All doors are 5 feet wide and 7 feet high, of normal legible. Most of the books are dull (histories, collections
of romantic poems, and so forth), but three are quite
wood construction; all are closed but unlocked (with the
noteworthy. These three books bear clear titles on
exception of area 15) and easy to open. Most of the win-
their spines:
dow panes are broken, and all are easy to open.
Unless otherwise noted. illumination is bright during The Magical Properties of Gemstones by the arch-
the day on the ground floor and the floor above it. In the mage Tenser
attic, due to various holes in the roof. the light is dim but The Magical Properties of Herbs and Flowers by the
adequate, leaving plenty of dark shadows in corners. archmage Tenser
The Metaphysics of Mathematics by the mage Nystul
GROUND FLOOR
Inside the third volume lies a piece of parchment torn
The following locations are identified on map 2.1. from a larger sheet, containing a few lines of handwrit-
ten text in the Common tongue. Dampness has spoiled it
l. ENTRANCE HALL
so that only two words are legible: "beyond skeletons."
The books can be sold for 7 gp each. though finding
a buyer for such tomes might require the party co look
The front door opens onto a musty, dirty entrance hall.
beyond Saltmarsh.
To your left, a corridor leads into the west wing of the
house. The walls are bare and bits of smashed furniture 3. STUDY
lie upon the floor. Ahead of you, another corridor leads
•
toward the rear of the house.
This room was once a writing room or study. Against the
A staircase on the eastern wall climbs to the next story,
wall under the windows sits a large wooden writing desk,
reaching it at a balcony that overlooks the entrance hall
partially broken and riddled with damp rot. There are
along its north and west sides; the stairs appear safe to
three drawers in each side of the desk and a large central
climb, though the balcony rail is broken in several places.
drawer; the latter is closed. but the others are all open-
Under the stairs at the north end of the hall, a third corri·
and two of them have been broken open forcibly.
dor leads east.
• •
The central drawer is locked and can be opened by a
The stairs show considerable wear and creak ominously
character who succeeds on a DC 10 Dexterity check us-
when tread upon but remain strong enough to support
ing thieves' tools. The drawer contains nothing but old,
anyone climbing to the second floor. valueless documents, all written in Common receipts
A character who makes a successful DC 10 Intelli-
for purchases of various chemicals and laboratory
gence (Investigation) or Wisdom (Survival) check finds
equipment. A character who makes a successful DC 14
two sets of recently made humanoid tracks. One set of
Intelligence (Investigation) check uncovers a small se-
tracks travels from the entryway toward area 9. The sec-
cret compartment.
ond leads away from the foot of the stairs and along the
Treasure. Inside the secret compartment. wrapped
western corridor toward area 4. in cloth. is a glass vial containing two doses of potion
Balcony. About 10 feet west of the top of the stairs, of healing.
a section of the balcony (the shaded area on the map)
collapses under the weight of any creature attempting 4. LIVING AREA
to cross it. The creature that causes the floor to collapse
•
must succeed on a DC 12 Dexterity saving throw or fall
A door in the north wall leads onto a small patio, the pav-
10 feet to the floor below. The collapsed section of the
balcony leaves a 7-foot-widc gap that must be crossed to ing cracked and overrun with weeds. Other than a pile of
reach the rest of the first floor. refuse in the southeast corner, the room is bare.
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