Get the Manticore Ruined Tower Map Pack today!

Hey all - it's new map time!

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Last month, I released the Manticore Lair map, which was comprised of the ruins of an ancient village in the foothills of the mountains. One of the largest (and mostly intact) structures on that map was a massive stone tower, and I felt like the ruined tower there would be a great place to add some meat to the narrative opportunities of the location.

Fending off a hungry manticore in its lair is one thing, but dealing with a manticore that is in service to another entity makes it even MORE interesting.

So, I am pleased to present the 6-Floor (and 1 lower level cave) Map Pack of the Manticore Ruined Tower that could be populated by whatever you wanted in your storyline, but I chose a half-elven necromancer and goblin rogue servant.

I decided to have an action illustration done for this encounter, showing the Manticore facing off against an adventuring party on the rooftop of the tower, by Clark Ocleasa:

The tower map is presented both as individual tower levels, as well as all together on both JPG and transparent PNG, so that you can keep all of the action within the tower on a single map, should you wish:

It is a bit difficult to see, so I've added a few zoomed-in PNG tiles of the various floors and some descriptions about my ideas for them:

Main Entrance | Bottom Floor

The bottom floor of the keep is littered in broken furniture, its cracked stone floor home to small piles of ash and dirt, as well as as gaping hole near the stairs. This seems to have originally served as a communal gathering spot, with a large central firepit, tables and chairs, bookcases and other supplies. It now lies in ruin, picked mostly clean by scavengers.

Dark Cave | Lower Level

The gaping hole leads quite a ways down through a natural cavern structure to a dark cave that serves as the lair of a hungry creature. The wizard currently occupying the tower has installed some defenses that push those attempting to navigate the stairs over the stone wall and down into the pit as a defense mechanism. The remains of one such adventurer is there to be found, which could contain a clue, loot or simply a warning.

2nd Floor | Kitchens

The second floor of the tower appears to have serve as the main kitchens of the establishment, serving townsfolk at gatherings below, as well as those that lived and met in the tower above. A massive line of trash crosses much of the floor, which seems to be the remnants of scavenged goods from the ruined village homes. The trash stands nearly to the ceiling, with a few small holes visible to those that know where to look.

The goblin servant uses this chamber as a sorting room, taking things she has scavenged from the village and deciding what to bring to the wizard and what to keep for herself (or throw away).

3rd Floor | Council Meeting Chamber

The third floor served as the council meeting chamber for the village elders. The room is full of long since faded banners, statues of once important men or gods (hard to tell) and a few books, scrolls and maps laid out by both the goblin and wizard from past searching.

The two of them are attempting to find information related to a powerful artifact known to have been present when the village was destroyed and are hoping some written account somewhere in the rubble will help pinpoint its location.

4th Floor | Living Quarters

The fourth floor served as living quarters for the village elders appointed to maintain the tower and look after the village. They were primarily scholars charged with protection of the village, especially from a distant threat of darkness kept at bay only through maintenance of a powerful artifact.

The goblin and wizard now each use one of these chambers for their own private quarters, while searching and studying over the last several months.

5th Floor | Hall of Visions

The fifth floor was originally used by the scholars and wizards there to view glimpses of the future through careful preparation and use of divination magics. The tables lining the walls are filled with scrolls, books and other documents the wizard has identified as potentially useful, either to tap into this form of magic and/or to explain the role of the artifact and its potential location in the village.

A pile of skulls lay against the northeastern wall, with 6 skulls currently set upon stone pillars at eye level. The wizard has been interrogating the dead spirits of the villagers in hopes of finding one that has knowledge of the artifact, but has not yet found a definitive answer.

6th Floor | Manticore's Lair

The sixth floor was originally used for ceremonies, scouting and some additional storage, though much of that has been removed. A large hole in the stone ceiling allows natural light to filter over the rubble, and a nest has been built in the corner of the room by the Manticore, who lairs here.

The Manticore's general instructions are to chase away or kill intruders in the tower or adventurers that happen upon the village, for fear that they might incidentally discover the artifact sought by the necromancer.

Top of Tower | Rooftop Tile

This PNG tile represents the top view of the tower, allowing you to place it anywhere on your other maps, if you'd like to use this location for something outside of the narrative described above or, at least, independent of the ruin map.

The tower presents a variety of possible environments to explore, traps to spring, clues to find, histories to learn and a half-elven necromancer and her goblin rogue servant working to discover the location and fate of a powerful artifact rumored to have belonged to this village.

As usual, we have Sprites/Tokens for the characters that come along with the Map Pack, as well as files appropriate for Roll20, Foundry, Print and many other VTT environments.

I hope you'll join us! =)