One of the best Easter eggs in Ghosts of Saltmarsh is a nod to one of the earliest adventures written for Dungeons & Dragons: the Tower of Zenopus, mentioned in Chapter 1.
Tower of Zenopus
The wizard Zenopus once dwelled in this tower on the cliffs outside Saltmarsh. He built his lair next to the remains of an ancient graveyard rumored to be haunted.
The original adventure was officially titled Sample Dungeon and appeared on page 40 of the Holmes Basic Set in 1977. Among D&D grognards, however, it became affectionately known as The Tower of Zenopus.
Its introduction, written nearly fifty years ago, reads:
Background — 100 years ago the sorcerer Zenopus built a tower on the low hills overlooking Portown. The tower was close to the sea cliff west of the town and, appropriately, next door to the graveyard.
Rumor has it that the magician made extensive cellars and tunnels underneath the tower. The town is located on the ruins of a much older city of doubtful history, and Zenopus was said to excavate in his cellars in search of ancient treasures.
This immediately felt at home in Saltmarsh: a ruined tower, forgotten passages, smugglers, sea caves, an ancient settlement, and something dangerous buried beneath it all.
For Legends of Saltmarsh, I wanted to weave the Tower of Zenopus into the setting through three connected elements:
- The original dungeon
- Keledek the Unspoken
- The forgotten druid settlement of Tideholm
The Original Dungeon
The first step was simply incorporating the original dungeon.
The Sample Dungeon from the 1977 Holmes Basic Set is available online for free from Wizards of the Coast. I have cleaned up the original pages and made them available to download here.
There is also a free 5e conversion available through the DMs Guild. It includes expanded material, suggestions for using the dungeon with Ghosts of Saltmarsh, and a much clearer, printer-friendly map.
Eventually, I would love to work with DM Andy on a completely updated battle map of the dungeon.
Keledek the Unspoken
The second element is Keledek the Unspoken, Saltmarsh’s resident wizard.
Keledek is already connected to the Tower of Zenopus in Ghosts of Saltmarsh:
The exception is Keledek the Unspoken, the town wizard, who used magic to open the cellar door and found that the passages led to a hidden sea cave. He uses the cave as a meeting point for smugglers. He has recruited several goblins to keep watch over the place, along with a trained giant constrictor snake he raised from a hatchling.
The goblins barricaded several passages leading deeper into the dungeons after losing several of their number to ghouls and giant rats that emerged from the depths.
Keledek is loath to tell anyone about his secret stronghold, but he can’t shake the idea of following the deeper passages for the chance of unearthing Zenopus’s lost secrets. If the characters earn his trust, he might take them into his confidence. The details of the deep dungeons are left to the DM’s invention.
Looking at the original map, I decided to limit Keledek’s control to the tower rooms (S1 & S2) and the passages leading toward the sea caves.
This is the section Keledek and his goblins have secured. The remaining passages have been barricaded after creatures emerged from deeper within the ruins.
Keledek may eventually hire the characters to explore beyond those barricades. He wants to know what Zenopus discovered, but he has no desire to risk himself or reveal his secret relationship with Saltmarsh’s smugglers.
The sea caves connect the dungeon to the cliffs and provide a hidden meeting place for smugglers working within Gellan Primewater’s network.
On the map:
- Blue marks the area known and controlled by Keledek.
- Red marks the passages leading toward the sealed entrance to the Endless Nadir.
What Lies Beneath the Ruins?
The original adventure tells us that the town was built over the ruins of a much older settlement, but it never explains who built that settlement or what happened to it.
That gave me the opportunity to connect the Tower of Zenopus to the older lore of the Saltmarsh region.
Long before Keoland, before Saltmarsh, and perhaps before humans settled these shores, a sacred druid village stood beside Javan Bay.
It was called Tideholm.
Tideholm was a settlement of druids devoted to Obad-Hai. Natural caverns stretched beneath the village, shaped by underground rivers and the sea.
The druids expanded those caverns, carving shrines, burial chambers, and hidden passages beneath their settlement.
In doing so, they opened something that should have remained sealed.
The Endless Nadir
Far beneath Tideholm, the druids discovered a passage into the Endless Nadir, a sunless abyss inhabited by aboleths and other ancient creatures.
Aboleths
For those unfamiliar with aboleths, they are best used as hidden threats rather than simple monsters.
Through dreams, telepathy, and domination, an aboleth can control a cult, corrupt a village, manipulate local leaders, or pose as a forgotten god. Its plans may unfold over generations while it remains safely hidden beneath the water.
This makes an aboleth especially effective in Saltmarsh. It might influence druids, smugglers, or an isolated coastal settlement or even be used by the Scarlet Brotherhood to destabilize the region.
Of course, the Brotherhood may only believe it is in control.
Wink wink, nudge nudge, say no more.
This connects the lost history of Tideholm and Saltmarsh with the aboleth lore found in The Styes.
The aboleths began infiltrating the settlement of Tideholm. Through dreams, whispers, and domination, they slowly turned some of Tideholm’s druids into servants.
Their corruption nearly succeeded.
A small circle of elders eventually discovered what was happening. The last uncorrupted keepers of Tideholm gathered their strength and performed a desperate ritual to seal the entrance beneath the village.
This sealed passage is marked in red on the map above.
They succeeded, but the ritual awakened something in the depths.
A terrible storm rose over Javan Bay.
Black rain fell from the sky. Waves battered the coast and surged inland. Tideholm was destroyed, its stones scattered and its name swallowed by time.
Whatever stirred beneath the village also spread its corruption into the surrounding land. The Hool Marshes and the Drowned Forest became darker, stranger, and more foul.
Most of Tideholm’s druids died during the storm or in the rites that followed. Those who survived fled east and inland, returning to the Dreadwood and the Silverstand.
They vowed never to return.
Centuries later, Zenopus built his tower beside the forgotten ruins and began excavating the passages below.
The original Tower of Zenopus describes what happened next:
On a cold wintry night, the wizard’s tower was suddenly engulfed in green flame. Several of his human servants escaped the holocaust, saying their master had been destroyed by some powerful force he had unleashed in the depths of the tower.
Ghosts of Saltmarsh echoes the same event:
One night, the tower was engulfed in a fiery green aura. A few brave folks from town investigated the tower and found it abandoned. The door at the base of the cellar stairs was covered with strange symbols and wrapped in silver chains.
That was nearly a century ago.
Today, Saltmarsh sits east of the Kingfisher Delta. Farther along the coast to the west lie the ruins of Tideholm and the Tower of Zenopus.
Now Keledek the Unspoken has reopened the tower and begun excavating the passages beneath it.
No one knows how far he has ventured.
No one knows what he has found.
And no one is certain how much Keledek truly understands about what lies below.
Revealing the Lore
I am currently developing two locations that will introduce this history to the players. I have already expanded these locations in Legends of Saltmarsh.
Sea Grove of Obad-Hai
Ferrin Kastilar, the halfling druid who tends the Sea Grove, knows fragments of the legend of Tideholm.
He knows that a druid settlement once stood near Javan Bay. He also knows that something terrible awakened beneath it and that the survivors refused to return.
However, the story has been passed down through generations and much of the truth has been lost.
Keledek’s Tower
Keledek the Unspoken is less interested in legends than he is in what may still lie beneath the ruins.
He uses the Tower of Zenopus and its sea caves to support his relationship with Gellan Primewater and Saltmarsh’s smuggling network. At the same time, he is quietly searching for Zenopus’s lost discoveries.
Keledek knows there are deeper passages beneath the tower.
He does not yet know where they lead.
Development
This is still an early work in progress, but it represents one of my favorite parts of creating Legends of Saltmarsh: weaving existing lore, adventures, NPCs, and locations together into something larger.
Ghosts of Saltmarsh and the wider Greyhawk setting provide an incredible amount of material to build upon. The Tower of Zenopus is a perfect example, a small Easter egg that can become the entrance to an entire hidden history beneath the region.
You can begin exploring the project for free through Legends of Saltmarsh Online. Join the free newsletter to receive updates as new locations and adventures are released.
You can also download the following resources for free:
Additional Links
I am also releasing additional content for supporting members, including:
- Foundry VTT modules
- Digital Asset Packs
- Game Master Pack, including LegendKeeper, Markdown, and JSON files
The ruins are waiting.
And something beneath them has begun to stir.
