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<blockquote data-quote="Pacio49" data-source="post: 2091264" data-attributes="member: 28472"><p><strong>Karral's Tower</strong></p><p></p><p>Before the party could really react, Valar reached down into the well and brought up a palmfull of the cool water and took a small sip. After a moment's consideration of the taste, he reached down with gusto and began to splash the water over his face and gulp down as much as he could. Luckily for Valar, Laeka was able to stop him from his slaking of thirst by physically restraining him for a moment. Valar turned to the party to protest, and gave a blank look of unfamiliarity at all of their faces.</p><p></p><p>"Who are you?" he asked, confused. He was answered only by groans.</p><p></p><p>The well was enchanted somehow with a spell of forgetfulness. Valar had been stopped before he could drink his fill, which would most likely have removed all memories from him entirely. As it was, all our intrepid rogue lost were the memories of adventuring in Dorecan Manor, easily remedied. (After a few reminders the party's identities returned to his knowledge... perhaps something about the water splashed on his face and eyes that did it.) Laeka and Marcus's minor experiments to see about whether the water could be taken out of the area concluded with the pronunciation that it was something about the well itself, not the water taken from it, and that if the water weren't drunk immediately, then there were no effects from it. Even still, the party declined to fill up their canteens from the well.</p><p></p><p>Instead, they began to explore. Three passageways led out of the well room, and the first one checked led to a strange iris-closed metal doorway of some kind with knobs to control opening and closing. They opened it, and stepped out into a dusty cave of sorts that was formed by some kind of overhang where a river or stream at one time undercut a hillside. It also led them back into the Blasted Lands and a return to the Taint. They explored just enough to be able to see the ruined and tumbled blocks of limestone-dressed granite from what once was a square tower higher up on the hill. They saw that the tower overlooked a small valley nestled between the arms of two hills that ended in a pool, and a stream trickled down from the pool to the River of Stars about a mile away. They returned then to the basement of Karral's Tower.</p><p></p><p>With the iris doorway's hall to their backs, the party found themselves taking the hallway to the left from the well's room. They passed several faintly-glowing crystal outcroppings about the size of a small couch growing out of the floor, but at a <em>detect magic</em> from Marcus which revealed tendrils of eldritch energy tying the crystals to the tower itself somehow, they decided to leave well enough alone.</p><p></p><p>Through the door of the first room they found themselves confronted with the smell of salt water, a faint breeze, the sound of gentle waves, and a floor made entirely of sand. The darkness of the room was odd, but when <em>light</em> spells were cast the mystery deepened even further. The room looked like a beach. A small beach, to be certain, but there was a dressing cabana to the left of the doorway (about 20' square) and what looked like small islands out a ways from where the waves lapped the beachfront. Tybok and Laeka tested the extent of the beach, and came to a point where they stopped, confronted with the feeling of a wall, but with the appearance of continuing onward down the beach. Arien did some druidic poking around with her knowledge of nature and was surprised to find that the place was large enough to contain a working ecosystem of some kind. She theorized that perhaps the place opened onto some kind of extraplanar underground sea, but Marcus thought that perhaps there was a conjuration spell of some kind at work to populate the place with wildlife. </p><p></p><p>Among the things that were found by Arien and the rest of the explorers, however, was a bed of oysters in a tidal pool just beyond the edge of the beach near the cabana. Opening the oysters showed that about 1 in 5 had a 100gp pearl inside it. At first, Valar's eyes lit up until Marcus reminded him that 100gp pearls were considered a spell component and used for the spell <em>identify</em>. After playing in the darkened beach for a bit, and daring to bathe a bit in the waters among the seaweed and crabs, the party headed back to the well room to investigate the other remaining passageway.</p><p></p><p>This hallway turned a corner and split into two branches. The one to the right led to a small storage closet and led to an encounter with several animated suits of armor. Skalar's knowledge of all things dungeoneering led him to pronounce them 'Dreadguards', but with the might of the party they were rather easy to 'kill'. Marcus hesitated a guess after examining the hollow armor and weapon that perhaps the magical power of the crystals in the tower were animating them, and the fact that the place was shrouded in darkness made him think that the Tower was losing power slowly over time. Yovaire reminded the group that Mikkilik had mentioned not seeing Karral in 'ages', so Marcus agreed that perhaps when the tower was fully powered, the Dreadguards were much more imposing of a threat.</p><p></p><p>Just beyond the storage closet was a stairwell that led upward to the next level. The party stopped and decided to investigate the left branch of the last passageway first, and found themselves facing yet another encounter with the Dreadguards, again easily dispatched. With a <em>daylight</em> spell from Laeka the party found themselves in a room lush with plants and undergrowth, with a manicured pathway that led to a pool fed by a waterfall from the top of the vaulted ceilings. One set of falls cascaded down directly to the pool while a second flow made its way down several natural-looking rock formations, pool after pool of water that fed into the final pond in a leisurely manner. Behind the path the lush vegetation seemed to be penning in a set of wetlands, and birds and insects filled the all-too-humid air. Arien took one look at some of the exotic plant and animal life and declared herself 'home'. As the <em>daylight</em> spell waned, however, the room went back into dismal darkness once more, but the party could see where cleverly hidden pylons of crystal outcroppings dotted the room's freshwater paradise. Only Valar noticed that in one of the marshy areas behind the path and against the wall the reeds that grew in abundance suddenly fell as though cut off at the water line, bundled themselves into a stack, and then vanished into thin air. Marcus investigated the area for a while, but saw nothing unusual except the hacked down reed stems as evidence of anything odd.</p><p></p><p>The bottom floor more or less explored, the party turned their efforts up to the next floor, following the winding staircase up what Yovaire thought might be the outside wall of the tower's foundation, until they reached a dark hallway with more crystal outcroppings and a hall that went all the way around the perimeter of the tower, with doors interspersed at odd intervals. They dispatched several more sets of Dreadguards, again quite easily, and found themselves wandering through several rooms that seemed like something from a dream. Inside each of these odd rooms they found an illusion of some kind at work on the interior, a seal on the outer doors that looked like some kind of abjuration spell (not powered currently), writing in strange and unknown languages, summoning circles inscribed into the floors, and small bookshelves filled with books in the same kinds of languages which were represented on the summoning circles and the door.</p><p></p><p style="margin-left: 20px">[META: <em>Karral was an Epic Conjurer. His tower was built in a pocket dimension which enhanced all Conjuration spell effects that he had either built or discovered. He used the Tower as a study place for himself and a workshop at one point, and the party was exploring the workshop floor. Each of those rooms were rooms that dealt with a different elemental plane or moral plane, and the languages corresponded. Thus, there was a room for Fire with books all in Ignan, a demonic one with books in Infernal, a celestial one with books in celestial, etc. Each keyed specifically to make the room as comfortable as possible for the summoned creature by mimicking via magic the look and feel of the plane they were coming from. The seals on the doors could be activated by spending a 3rd level or higher spell slot to effectively seal off the room (from the inside) so that should, say, a Devil of some kind get free, they couldn't leave the room except to return via the summoning portal. Unfortunately for Marcus, he wasn't a specialist wizard or a Conjurer, or he would have been quite orgasmic over the Tower.</em>]</p><p></p><p>Also on that floor the party found a couple of crafting workshops, one dedicated to the making of paper and binding of books and the other dedicated to the crafting of inks and vials. As they watched, they saw the reeds that had been 'harvested' while Valar watched below being magically prepared along the process of becoming papyrus. Thanks to the use of <em>detect magic</em> and spellcraft knowledge, Marcus was able to determine that the 'automated' processes were being manned by some form of permanently bound <em>unseen servants</em> of some kind. </p><p></p><p>As a testimony to the long absence of use, there were about ten spellbooks, perfectly bound and perfectly blank, and a whole cabinet full of glass vials of special inks. (<em>Essentially, those in the Tower can forego the materials cost of scribing scrolls or spellbooks but not any significant spell components or XP cost for scrolls.</em>) At this point in time, Marcus declared *himself* as being 'home'.</p><p></p><p>There was one area on the floor which the party were not able to gain access to... the forges. The door was magically sealed and warded, and those who attempted to open it received massive amounts of energy damage and got blown backwards across the room. Eventually, fearing TPK by Door(tm), the characters got confirmation from their deities that there was nothing they could do about the room for now, and they would just have to keep on going as they were.</p><p></p><p>And with that, the group found themselves moving up to the next level...</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Pacio49, post: 2091264, member: 28472"] [b]Karral's Tower[/b] Before the party could really react, Valar reached down into the well and brought up a palmfull of the cool water and took a small sip. After a moment's consideration of the taste, he reached down with gusto and began to splash the water over his face and gulp down as much as he could. Luckily for Valar, Laeka was able to stop him from his slaking of thirst by physically restraining him for a moment. Valar turned to the party to protest, and gave a blank look of unfamiliarity at all of their faces. "Who are you?" he asked, confused. He was answered only by groans. The well was enchanted somehow with a spell of forgetfulness. Valar had been stopped before he could drink his fill, which would most likely have removed all memories from him entirely. As it was, all our intrepid rogue lost were the memories of adventuring in Dorecan Manor, easily remedied. (After a few reminders the party's identities returned to his knowledge... perhaps something about the water splashed on his face and eyes that did it.) Laeka and Marcus's minor experiments to see about whether the water could be taken out of the area concluded with the pronunciation that it was something about the well itself, not the water taken from it, and that if the water weren't drunk immediately, then there were no effects from it. Even still, the party declined to fill up their canteens from the well. Instead, they began to explore. Three passageways led out of the well room, and the first one checked led to a strange iris-closed metal doorway of some kind with knobs to control opening and closing. They opened it, and stepped out into a dusty cave of sorts that was formed by some kind of overhang where a river or stream at one time undercut a hillside. It also led them back into the Blasted Lands and a return to the Taint. They explored just enough to be able to see the ruined and tumbled blocks of limestone-dressed granite from what once was a square tower higher up on the hill. They saw that the tower overlooked a small valley nestled between the arms of two hills that ended in a pool, and a stream trickled down from the pool to the River of Stars about a mile away. They returned then to the basement of Karral's Tower. With the iris doorway's hall to their backs, the party found themselves taking the hallway to the left from the well's room. They passed several faintly-glowing crystal outcroppings about the size of a small couch growing out of the floor, but at a [i]detect magic[/i] from Marcus which revealed tendrils of eldritch energy tying the crystals to the tower itself somehow, they decided to leave well enough alone. Through the door of the first room they found themselves confronted with the smell of salt water, a faint breeze, the sound of gentle waves, and a floor made entirely of sand. The darkness of the room was odd, but when [i]light[/i] spells were cast the mystery deepened even further. The room looked like a beach. A small beach, to be certain, but there was a dressing cabana to the left of the doorway (about 20' square) and what looked like small islands out a ways from where the waves lapped the beachfront. Tybok and Laeka tested the extent of the beach, and came to a point where they stopped, confronted with the feeling of a wall, but with the appearance of continuing onward down the beach. Arien did some druidic poking around with her knowledge of nature and was surprised to find that the place was large enough to contain a working ecosystem of some kind. She theorized that perhaps the place opened onto some kind of extraplanar underground sea, but Marcus thought that perhaps there was a conjuration spell of some kind at work to populate the place with wildlife. Among the things that were found by Arien and the rest of the explorers, however, was a bed of oysters in a tidal pool just beyond the edge of the beach near the cabana. Opening the oysters showed that about 1 in 5 had a 100gp pearl inside it. At first, Valar's eyes lit up until Marcus reminded him that 100gp pearls were considered a spell component and used for the spell [i]identify[/i]. After playing in the darkened beach for a bit, and daring to bathe a bit in the waters among the seaweed and crabs, the party headed back to the well room to investigate the other remaining passageway. This hallway turned a corner and split into two branches. The one to the right led to a small storage closet and led to an encounter with several animated suits of armor. Skalar's knowledge of all things dungeoneering led him to pronounce them 'Dreadguards', but with the might of the party they were rather easy to 'kill'. Marcus hesitated a guess after examining the hollow armor and weapon that perhaps the magical power of the crystals in the tower were animating them, and the fact that the place was shrouded in darkness made him think that the Tower was losing power slowly over time. Yovaire reminded the group that Mikkilik had mentioned not seeing Karral in 'ages', so Marcus agreed that perhaps when the tower was fully powered, the Dreadguards were much more imposing of a threat. Just beyond the storage closet was a stairwell that led upward to the next level. The party stopped and decided to investigate the left branch of the last passageway first, and found themselves facing yet another encounter with the Dreadguards, again easily dispatched. With a [i]daylight[/i] spell from Laeka the party found themselves in a room lush with plants and undergrowth, with a manicured pathway that led to a pool fed by a waterfall from the top of the vaulted ceilings. One set of falls cascaded down directly to the pool while a second flow made its way down several natural-looking rock formations, pool after pool of water that fed into the final pond in a leisurely manner. Behind the path the lush vegetation seemed to be penning in a set of wetlands, and birds and insects filled the all-too-humid air. Arien took one look at some of the exotic plant and animal life and declared herself 'home'. As the [i]daylight[/i] spell waned, however, the room went back into dismal darkness once more, but the party could see where cleverly hidden pylons of crystal outcroppings dotted the room's freshwater paradise. Only Valar noticed that in one of the marshy areas behind the path and against the wall the reeds that grew in abundance suddenly fell as though cut off at the water line, bundled themselves into a stack, and then vanished into thin air. Marcus investigated the area for a while, but saw nothing unusual except the hacked down reed stems as evidence of anything odd. The bottom floor more or less explored, the party turned their efforts up to the next floor, following the winding staircase up what Yovaire thought might be the outside wall of the tower's foundation, until they reached a dark hallway with more crystal outcroppings and a hall that went all the way around the perimeter of the tower, with doors interspersed at odd intervals. They dispatched several more sets of Dreadguards, again quite easily, and found themselves wandering through several rooms that seemed like something from a dream. Inside each of these odd rooms they found an illusion of some kind at work on the interior, a seal on the outer doors that looked like some kind of abjuration spell (not powered currently), writing in strange and unknown languages, summoning circles inscribed into the floors, and small bookshelves filled with books in the same kinds of languages which were represented on the summoning circles and the door. [indent][META: [i]Karral was an Epic Conjurer. His tower was built in a pocket dimension which enhanced all Conjuration spell effects that he had either built or discovered. He used the Tower as a study place for himself and a workshop at one point, and the party was exploring the workshop floor. Each of those rooms were rooms that dealt with a different elemental plane or moral plane, and the languages corresponded. Thus, there was a room for Fire with books all in Ignan, a demonic one with books in Infernal, a celestial one with books in celestial, etc. Each keyed specifically to make the room as comfortable as possible for the summoned creature by mimicking via magic the look and feel of the plane they were coming from. The seals on the doors could be activated by spending a 3rd level or higher spell slot to effectively seal off the room (from the inside) so that should, say, a Devil of some kind get free, they couldn't leave the room except to return via the summoning portal. Unfortunately for Marcus, he wasn't a specialist wizard or a Conjurer, or he would have been quite orgasmic over the Tower.[/i]][/indent] Also on that floor the party found a couple of crafting workshops, one dedicated to the making of paper and binding of books and the other dedicated to the crafting of inks and vials. As they watched, they saw the reeds that had been 'harvested' while Valar watched below being magically prepared along the process of becoming papyrus. Thanks to the use of [i]detect magic[/i] and spellcraft knowledge, Marcus was able to determine that the 'automated' processes were being manned by some form of permanently bound [i]unseen servants[/i] of some kind. As a testimony to the long absence of use, there were about ten spellbooks, perfectly bound and perfectly blank, and a whole cabinet full of glass vials of special inks. ([i]Essentially, those in the Tower can forego the materials cost of scribing scrolls or spellbooks but not any significant spell components or XP cost for scrolls.[/i]) At this point in time, Marcus declared *himself* as being 'home'. There was one area on the floor which the party were not able to gain access to... the forges. The door was magically sealed and warded, and those who attempted to open it received massive amounts of energy damage and got blown backwards across the room. Eventually, fearing TPK by Door(tm), the characters got confirmation from their deities that there was nothing they could do about the room for now, and they would just have to keep on going as they were. And with that, the group found themselves moving up to the next level... [/QUOTE]
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