Goldenhawk is a ruined tower in the Nentir Vale.
History[]
A pair of retired adventurers—an elf wizard named Vanamere and a human fighter named Lethion Goldenhawk —married and built this tower as a private residence, sinking a considerable amount of their accumulated wealth into the endeavor. Only later did the tower become important to the defense of Nentir Vale, and only after special agreements were reached with the owners.
When Lethion passed away, Vanamere placed his remains in a secret tomb carved out of the hill beneath the tower. With him she buried their remaining treasure, including magic items seized during their careers. One of the items entombed with Lethion was a gold-plated human skull, taken from the corpse of a gnoll demon-worshiper in the Ogrefist Hills. The golden skull is believed to be one of several stolen from the Temple of Yellow Skulls.
Goblins from the Ogrefist Hills and Witchlight Fens tried to overrun the tower on several occasions, but their attacks were rebuffed. Thirty-odd years ago, the goblins joined forces with a clan of ogres and a giant, and descended from the hills in force. They pounded the tower with rocks and broke through its defenses. Vanamere used a ritual to summon a mighty storm.
When they breached the tower, a great bolt of lightning struck its peak, causing the tower to explode. Jagged shards of rock killed most of the invaders. The magical attack so frightened the remaining monsters that they fled back into the hills, never to return. What became of Vanamere, no one knows. According to legend, when the lightning struck, she became one with the tower and remains trapped within its ruined walls to this day
Behind the Scenes[]
Acquisitions Incorporated began a campaign to rid the tower of 'Goldenhawk' of it's apparent brigand and cultist infestation in Acquisitions Incorporated: Season Two. The rest of this entry in the wiki is completed with the information written by Chris Perkins in his Storm Tower[1] adventure for D&D 4th Edition. This information varies from the podcast in that the written adventure features several changes as listed below.
Podcast Changes[]
- Names changes
- Vanamere's name is 'Valatra' in the podcast
- Lethion's name is 'Faran' in the podcast
- Jeras Falck appears as an apparently unnamed necromancer referred to as 'Falck'
- Some of the encounters in the podcast series are significantly more difficult than those included in the adventure module most notably the final encounter.
- No Dwarven survivors appear in the podcast, instead of an alcove area where the company might find these survivors as written in the adventure module -- the company is treated to an encounter with no such survivors.