Part One - The Surface

The Surface

Magda's Needle is a well known landmark, and a site of dark rumour.

King Magda is a regional noble (Kings and Queens rank below the Baron), and has a reputation as a sorcerer and a madman. He is neither - he is a sage, and an experimenter, and has used the squat stone tower to summon, imprison, and interrogate demons of various kinds for many years. He has also used the sprawling subterranean cells to imprison bandits, poachers, and political prisoners. The Needle is greatly feared by those who live in his lands. 

Magda recently entered the tower and failed to emerge. Most assumed that he was murdered by the demons that he dealt with and spoke to, and not many mourned. All was quiet in the prison. Then the Starlings, a famous troupe of veteran mercenaries in the employ of the Church, forced entry into the catacombs below, with the aim of killing the demon-possessed prisoners and cleansing the place of evil. That was four days ago, and none of the company returned.

The Sainted Captain of the Starlings was a canonised war saint, and had holy relics from the capital in their possession. To show good faith to the church, the Baroness has promised a substantial reward to any who can bring the relics back to the surface, and report on the fate of the Starlings. She has also sent two Baronial Agents, and a levy of spearmen and arbalesters from the capital, to set up a cordon around the structure and prevent the escape of anything within.

When you and your companions arrive it is dusk, and the light is quickly leaving the sky. The dark bulk of the tower stands in relief against a sky of grey clouds that glow with the last sun. The camp of the Agents is well organised, and lit with brightly flaring torches. The levy troops are grim men and women and they eye you warily as you approach, but they agree to present you to the Agents to make yourselves, and your intentions, known.

The Camp

The camp is inhabited by two Baronial Agents, Rosemary and Charlie, 16 spearmen, and 12 arbalesters. They have erected 4 tents for the enlisted men, who guard the site on 12 hour shifts. They watch the interior entrance to the prison for anything emerging from below, patrol a close perimeter around the site, and guard the second floor entrance to Magda's private rooms, study, and library. To show confidence to the men, Rose and Charlie have set up their own table and quarters inside the ground floor store rooms of the tower itself, so they are always on hand if there is any movement from within. There are alarms (gongs and beaters) in the camp and at each guard post, and they are also carried by patrols - these will immediately be sounded if any of the guards are under threat, and will wake everyone in the camp.

Rose and Charlie are experienced agents and not friendly people. They were their bright red armour at all times, and neither of them sleeps much. Rose is a Specialist 2/Fighter 1 armed with a parrying knife, and Charlie is a Fighter 3 with a sword and shield. Charlie wears a harlequin half cloak to hide the movement of his sword arm, an affectation that marks him out as an ex gang bravo. Rose wears expensive steel spectacles. Both are in their mid twenties. All of the enlisted men and women are men-at-arms, armed with swords, spears, and shields, or swords and arbalests, according to their role. They all wear good-quality chain. No one out here will give even a first warning before killing you if they think you are dangerous. As far as this contingent is concerned, they are currently on campaign in what amounts to enemy territory. 

Also parked inside the camp perimeter is a large, armoured wagon, painted with holy scenes and hitched to a team of barded horses of excellent quality. If you ask, you will be told that it belonged to the Starlings and their Sainted Captain.

Rose and Charlie will be brief with you, but they are trustworthy and reliable. They will not venture down into the prison themselves, but will not stop you from doing so if you are determined to do so. The library upstairs is off limits. The only information that they have about what might be contained within is a prisoners manifest, which reads as follows:

• The demon Misery. 
• The unnamed demon of song.
• The unnamed demon of profanity and filth. 
• 15 Chaos Eaters. 
• 42 Dimensional Vermin.
• 22 condemned souls, criminals, perverts, hypocrites; human waste. 

They will give you this information freely, and will reaffirm the commitment of the Baroness to reward those that return the holy relics in the possession of the Sainted Captain. They don't know what a 'Chaos Eater' or a 'Dimensional Vermin' is, but their best guess is that these are probably lesser demons of some kind. 

Rose and Charlie are professional, curt, and aloof, but if you get friendly with the levies they will tell you various dark rumours that surround the tower:

• There is a Mimic Hell somewhere below. All adventurers have heard of Mimic Hells and fear them. 
• All of the Starlings are dead or possessed by demons.
• At the lowest level of the dungeon is a gateway to hell.
• A racket of thieves operates from the upper levels of the prison. 
• There is a second entrance to the dungeon, hidden somewhere nearby.
• The things that haunt the corridors below are invisible and intangible.  
• King Mag's undead body can be found the caverns below, a pilgrim like the others.

The Tower

The tower itself is made up of a store room at ground level (converted into a checkpoint and war room by the Baronial Agents), and the upper levels, which contain Magda's library and chambers. The entrance is guarded day and night, and you will not be allowed entry, but if you can somehow find your way inside (perhaps via the roof - if you are discovered in this the levy will probably kill you, but may choose instead to beat you within an inch of your life before letting you walk away) you will find the following:

• An extensive library, filled with volumes of demon lore. There are straight forward description of the mechanisms of the Hating Engines and the Material Hell, as well as how demons work, what they want, and how to summon, reason with, or capture them. This might be the single best stocked library on this specialist subject in the world. If you read about the Hating Engines and the Material Hell you have a 50/50 chance of them noticing your interest form the future. If you do so, you thereafter have a 1/100 chance each day (roll on waking) of being attacked by a returner demon, who will attempt to take you back with it to the Material Hell. If you kill five returner demons, then the Hating Engines will not send another, and will come up with something more robust and bespoke to deal with you. 
• Reading through for an hour will give you insight into exactly what Chaos Eaters and Dimensional Vermin are. You have the information on the stat block of these entities, given in the next section. 
• There is a small, mundane lockbox on a side table next to the bed. It contains 22 platinum pieces and two flawless diamonds. There is also a small hand lamp that burns without fuel, and gives off a strange, intense white light. The lamp emits a barely-audible hum, and the light feels uncomfortable on exposed skin. Anything invisible that falls under its light is rendered visible.
• Lying on the bed is what looks like a stuffed fabric puppet of human proportions. It is inanimate, but there are strange slurping and sucking sounds coming from its chest. If the players investigate, they will find a magically-animated trachea, brainstem, pair of lungs, and tongue, sewn into the body of the puppet. 

The store room on the ground level is plain and unornamented. There are timber storage racks at the walls, some of which still contain various dry goods, grains, salted meat, wine, and water. There are two small sealed casks, one filled with holy water and one with petroleum. There are also a good store of torches and pitch, and 20 vials of acid. Rose and Percy will let you take as many torches and rations as you wish, and will sell you acid or holy water at double market rates. They won't sell you petroleum (both are religious), and will get suspicious if you ask them to. 

In the centre of the floor is a short stone stair that leads to a solid iron door. Rose has the key, and will accompany you down to it to unlock it. There is an inscription in common in the stone above the door. It reads:

WE WORK AGAINST THE COMING DAY

Beyond the door, the torchlight illuminates stone stairs that lead down into the earth. It leads to the first level of the dungeon.