Banish the Poltergeist
--- Whispering Watch Outpost Map ---
[GROUND FLOOR] [Main Gate (1) - Entrance] --- [Outer Courtyard (2)] --- [Guardhouse (3)] | | (Stairs Up) V [SECOND FLOOR] [Barracks Landing (SF1)] --- [Soldiers' Barracks (SF2)] --- [Common Room (SF3)] | | (Stairs Up) V [THIRD FLOOR] [Officer's Landing (TF1)] --- [Quartermaster's Store (TF2)] --- [Commander's Office (TF3)] | | (Stairs Up) V [FOURTH FLOOR] [Watchtower Apex (FF1)] --- [Signaling Room (FF2)] --- [Whispering Chamber (FF3) - Objective]
--- Ground Floor ---
--- Area 1 (Main Gate - Entrance) --- Description: The heavy wooden gate of the Whispering Watch Outpost stands slightly ajar, bearing scorch marks and a general air of disrepair. The ground before it is churned mud, and the wind whistles eerily through unseen cracks in the stone walls. This is the primary point of entry. Exits/Connections: To Outer Courtyard (2) (North).
--- Area 2 (Outer Courtyard) --- Description: This muddy, uneven courtyard is littered with overturned supply crates, snapped tent poles, and discarded refuse. The remains of a small, cold campfire are visible in one corner. The air is damp and carries a faint, unpleasant smell of decay, mingled with the usual grime of an active outpost. Exits/Connections: To Main Gate (1) (South), To Guardhouse (3) (East), Stairs up to Barracks Landing (SF1). Creatures: It has creatures (type: undead).
--- Area 3 (Guardhouse) --- Description: This small, stone guardhouse has a broken door hanging askew. Inside, a slumped form lies unmoving behind a simple wooden table, amidst scattered reports and a few dented mugs. The silence here feels wrong, too complete. Exits/Connections: To Outer Courtyard (2) (West). Trap: It contains a trap (type: tripwire connected to a falling pile of loose stones). Perception DC 13 to spot. Potential Damage: 1d8/T1, 2d8/T2, 3d8/T3, 4d8/T4 Bludgeoning Damage.
--- Second Floor ---
--- Area SF1 (Barracks Landing) --- Description: The rough-hewn wooden stairs creak ominously as they ascend to this landing. The air here is colder than the courtyard below, and a faint, rhythmic scratching sound can be heard from within the nearby rooms. Exits/Connections: Stairs down to Outer Courtyard (2), To Soldiers' Barracks (SF2) (East).
--- Area SF2 (Soldiers' Barracks) --- Description: This long, cramped room is lined with simple cots, many overturned, and footlockers smashed open. Personal effects are strewn everywhere, indicating a hurried or violent departure. The scratching sound intensifies here, seeming to come from beneath the floorboards. Exits/Connections: To Barracks Landing (SF1) (West), To Common Room (SF3) (South). Creatures: It has creatures (type: undead). Encounter Type: Battle Area
--- Area SF3 (Common Room) --- Description: This room, likely used for recreation, now lies in shambles. A splintered table is overturned, and playing cards are scattered across the floor, along with the remnants of gnawed bones. A chill mist seems to cling to the corners of the room. Exits/Connections: To Soldiers' Barracks (SF2) (North), Stairs up to Officer's Landing (TF1). Secret Passages/Areas: A loose stone in the fireplace hearth (Perception DC 16 to find) conceals a small, grimy pouch containing a few low-value coins and a piece of oddly shaped metal, almost like a broken charm.
--- Third Floor ---
--- Area TF1 (Officer's Landing) --- Description: This landing, higher in the outpost tower, offers a brief respite from the general disarray, though dust motes dance in the slivers of light. The wind's whisper is more pronounced up here, seeming to carry faint, distant wails. Exits/Connections: Stairs down to Common Room (SF3), To Quartermaster's Store (TF2) (East).
--- Area TF2 (Quartermaster's Store) --- Description: This room, once filled with organized supplies, is now a chaotic mess. Torn sacks of provisions, spilled barrels of water, and shattered weapon racks lie everywhere. Many valuable items have been pilfered, and what remains is defaced with strange, scrawled symbols in what looks like dried blood. Exits/Connections: To Officer's Landing (TF1) (West), To Commander's Office (TF3) (South). Creatures: It has creatures (type: undead).
--- Area TF3 (Commander's Office) --- Description: Lieutenant Rostova's private office is surprisingly neat, though a single, heavy desk drawer hangs open, its contents visibly disturbed. Maps are pinned to the walls, some with strange, faint impressions on them, as if something sharp was dragged across their surface. The air is unnaturally cold. Exits/Connections: To Quartermaster's Store (TF2) (North), Stairs up to Watchtower Apex (FF1). Trap: It contains a trap (type: magically trapped inkwell that sprays chilling, paralyzing mist). Perception DC 15 to spot. Potential Damage: 1d8/T1, 2d8/T2, 3d8/T3, 4d8/T4 Cold/Paralysis.
--- Fourth Floor ---
--- Area FF1 (Watchtower Apex) --- Description: The pinnacle of the outpost tower. The wind howls mournfully through broken arrow slits, and the entire structure groans with its force. This open-air vantage point offers a grim view of the surrounding, desolate landscape. Exits/Connections: Stairs down to Commander's Office (TF3), To Signaling Room (FF2) (East).
--- Area FF2 (Signaling Room) --- Description: This small room contains a rusted old brazier and a few shattered remnants of signal flares. The wind whips through this exposed space, making it difficult to maintain a steady flame. Strange, spectral whispers seem to emanate from the very stone. Exits/Connections: To Watchtower Apex (FF1) (West), To Whispering Chamber (FF3) (South). Creatures: It has creatures (type: undead). Encounter Type: Battle Area
--- Area FF3 (Whispering Chamber - Objective) --- Description: This hidden, small chamber at the very top of the tower is the source of the outpost's chilling reputation. The air is impossibly cold, and a constant chorus of faint, spectral whispers fills the space. In the center, hovering unnaturally, is a translucent, shimmering orb, emanating a subtle, chilling energy that periodically causes small objects to fly across the room or doors to creak. This is clearly the source of the "vandalism" and "theft." Exits/Connections: To Signaling Room (FF2) (North). Objective: This area is designed as the focal point for identifying and dealing with the culprit behind the outpost's disturbances. There is no traditional combat boss, but the objective is to "identify the culprit" (the poltergeist/unsettling entity manifesting through the orb) and "make an example of them." This could involve a ritual to banish it, destroying the orb, or finding a way to appease the restless spirit, thus preventing future acts of "vandalism and petty theft."
