Tower of Glass

[Aholibamah]

This is a little complicated, so please bear with me. I'd appreciate any advice or thoughts on this btw.

Context: There is a war going on involving several nations in my homebrew world. The main stage of it is in a small country called New Edom, a republic. It is being invaded by a celtic kingdom called Drennan along with goblinoid, giant and dark elf allies. (distinguished from drow--in my homebrew dark elves look like regular elves except for some of them having corrupted or fiendish qualities) The New Edomite republic is aligned with some dwarves, gnomes, elves, merfolk, locathah and lizardfolk. Both sides have dragon allies as well.

The dark elves' main concern is this: they believe that humans have crowded elvish folk out of the world. Long ago the elvish people had hidden away certain powerful weapons they had lest they be tempted to conquer the world with them. The dark elves have sought to provoke a great war that will overwhelm remaining humans friendly to elves and force the elvish people to release a powerful spell holding the very memory of where these weapons are kept.

The actual holding place is known in a sense--there is a mysterious tower made of glass in one of the New Edomite cities. It is apparently invulnerable, and though it will now and then permit totally helpless or wounded people inside (wherupon they fall into an enchanted sleep and wake up healed) a particular set of rooms it will not open any other doors no matter what spells are cast upon it. The dark elves want in but cannot get in without a special key called the Book of the Dragon.

It is called the Book of the Dragon mostly because of the secret guardian of the tower--an ancient crystal dragon. The mysterious and powerful weapons are held in some form of suspended time.

What I had been thinking is that in order to either destroy or gain control of these weapons first the Book of the Dragon must be used to break the magical codes that control the tower. Then the guardian must be reached, who can permit those carrying the book to travel to a place where 'the realities join'. Essentially this means that a gate is opened and a plane can be accessed where a person has been waiting who holds one of a number of objects that must be brought to the tower in order for it to leave its suspended time and enter reality proper. The other objects are in another reality altogether and those seeking to bring the tower out of time must go there and collect them then bring them back. This is the only way to gain control of the tower.

This is sort of the climactic plotline for my campaign, which has been going on a little over a year now. By the time my pcs have gained the Book of the Dragon it is clear that the war will not end anytime soon, and that the dark elves will never cease trying to gain it in order to get to the Tower of Glass. Obviously the ancient weapons must not be permitted to fall into their hands.

 

[Mycanid]

Hmm ... involved storyarc there.

Where are things precisely at present with your pc's?

And, on a grander level: do you intend for the pc's to get into the tower and get the weapons? and if so, why would you wish the pc's to gain "control" of the tower per se?

What will the pc's DO with the weapons once (if) they get them? Are the pc's to destroy the weapons? This might be interesting ... quests to destroy the weapons (kinda a 'la LOTR).

How many weapons are we talking about here? Somewhere near 120 or 4?

 

[Aholibamah]

There are about 4 weapons.

The reason for the quest will be that the dark elves will not stop trying to get the Book of the Dragon. Short of eliminating all dark elves the other solution is to remove the object of their desire. The reason for not using the weapons is that they are supposedly in particular devastating to humans.

The pcs have a ways to go before this happens, currently they are involved with an adventure thread I call "The Book of the Dragon" in which they are seeking the various parts of the mysterious magical mechanical book. Following that they will be involved with something else as it is studied by the College of Wizards. So in a way this is meant to be the climactic adventure thread for my campaign--possibly with some stuff to follow but this is sort of the big main adventure. Or did you want to know party composition and stuff like that?

 

[Mycanid]

No ... party composition not necessary.

More wanted to know the general outline. Sounds good!

How do you intend for the pc's to get "rid" of the weapons?

 

[Aholibamah]

I'm still working on that...I'm thinking that it might be possible to either destroy or solidify the tower itself with the collection of missing items from it.

 

[roushguy]

have a 17-19th level wizard npc cast wish. bing! no more book of the dragon.

 

[Aholibamah]

Cult #1.

The first cult, which we will call The Collectors, is made up largely of a small group of conservative rather normal seeming people--the leaders include a lawyer, a police inspector, a businessman, a religious scholar and a member of the legislature. They are leaders because they posess five of the items known to belong in the mysterious room. (an oil lamp, a cup, a wastepaper basket, a stone egg, a pair of spectacles and a key) This group has come to believe that they will have some way to contact God/the Divine and gain enormous blessing themselves should they collect all the items proper. The items are listed in a 'holy book' made from the fragments of ancient notes from something called The Codex Draco. There were originally sixteen items but five found their way one way or another back to the room and now are powerless and irremovable--somehow trying to take them (or anything else) out of the room is impossible, somehow the item will become lost and end up back there.

There is also a strange mirror in the room that shows it as apparently it ought to be--with all the items in it.

Three members of the group keep watch over the area--two are students, one is rotated on various pretexts. They keep tabs on who goes in and out, though very few people go in since it is a sort of memorial room.

While the group appears quite normal and conservative, holding down steady jobs and going to church and so on in fact they can be dangerous if provoked or if they felt someone was trying to rob them of an item or withold one, or ask too many questions. They have contacts among some rather dangerous and violent people and will not hesitate to call in favours. Furthermore several of them are willing enough to do personal violence if it comes to that. The one thing they are truly wary about is that the vampires hang out in the area. They don't know why and the creatures seem capricious and dangerous, so they try to avoid them and try not to show too much interest in their actual goals.

Group # 2:
The Watchers (as I'm calling them so far) are really more of a slowly gathering collection of people from various walks of life who have either been freaked out by an encounter with the room or else contact with the first cult. They have come to believe that monsters walk the night and that an evil cult is attempting to do some sort of weird horrific ritual. One thing that the Watchers know is that whatever goes into the room and has the door shut upon it ends up either as part of the room if it belongs there or else disappears.