The Sunken Towers

Deep in the wilderness are three towers, slowly sinking into the bog. Once, this was the site of a great battle, for the dark waters are full with mummified soldiers of a bygone age and their treasure gleams below the surface like hidden suns. Three witches live here - sisters in souls, one in each tower - feeding on children lured into the bog. Such gruesome deed can only be countered by another, and now you have come here to end them.

This is a fairly intricate encounter that relies on the exact positioning of terrain features in setup. The characters start on dry land in low-right corner and they have to wade through the marsh to kill the witches. The water quickly becomes deeper: one square away from dry land, it reaches the characters to the waist, two squares away it reaches to the neck, three squares away the character must roll STR to swim or sink. If they proceed with caution, poke with a stick or similar, they can measure the depth of an adjacent square without stepping on it.

Because it is always waist-deep one square away and neck-deep two squares away from dry land, you don't have to consult the map once setup is done. You just have to count distance to closest land. in this sense, everything is out in the open - only the logic is not. The players will figure it out themselves, eventually, and once they do they will be able to anticipate which water squares are safe and which are not. To enable this, it is important that the characters move one step at a time, at least in the beginning, and that you emphasize the gradient: land - waist - neck - too deep.

Once not on dry land, movement is halved. You should be open with this, because it established from the start that it is important exactly which square a PC enters. The added split-second needed to calculate (1, 2, 3-4...) should also provide you with a small window to describe how the water becomes deeper, shallower, or remains the same depth.

The treasures should be marked on the board from the beginning: they are lures to draw characters into the water.

The bog-men should appear at randomly determined location. There are 20 islands (not counting the starting corner) so you can roll a d20 if you want.

The sunken towers

Target = 10+armour (or: target 10, subtract armour from rolls)
x= deep; roll str to swim or 1d4 fatigue
■ = submerged door
□ = door above surface
/// =  land, actions are EASY. 1 square away water to waist/movement is halved, 2 squares away water to neck/movement is halved, actions are HARD
ø = treasure
o = Bog witch, 3hp, fights as 3HD, Life drain (1d8 magic damage + save or dying, if attack deals at least 1 point of damage, the other witches gain 1 hp - resurrecting them if dead)

12 bogmen live in the murky waters, 1d4 appear each time a character steps into the water. 3HD, chain+helm (6 armour), Cursed curveblade (1d10, magic damage, breaks on a 1)

Timer: each 1d4 rounds, all PCs not on dry land must save/STR or are pulled 1 square towards deeper water. Characters already in deep water suffer 1d4 damage (no save) and must roll again to swim .

Treasures:

1. 1d6 gold
2. Mirror shield: +3 defense against magic attacks only.
3. Bronze curveblade (see above)
4. Bog head
5. Ambushed by bogman
6. Bronze helm: 1 armour, +2 against magic. Breaks after 1 day unless kept wet.