The Buried Tower of Penshire

by Airius Droc

The obsidian walls absorbed the moon’s light until the only parts of our senses that remained were our blackened hearts, and our greedy souls.

- Krishelbane’s Memoirs, 12:5

The Legend of the Tower:

Centuries have passed since the tower was created. Like much of the history of Agon, the true builder’s identity remains cloudy and subject for debate. Some argue that it’s a manifestation of the God-King, Melek. While others believe it’s left over from the Chaledan period. What is certain however, is the purpose for which the tower was created, power.

The tower was last controlled by the thief, Rinsol Krishelbane. What he did prior to coming into possession of the tower remains a mystery. However his exploits after the fact are well documented by his own accounts, and by various authors throughout Agon. During the reign of Krishelbane, Penshire was said to be shrouded in total darkness. Its base covered in thorns, its walls made of pure black. Using the cover of darkness, Krishelbane mounted a huge clan of thieves, cutthroats and villains known as the Red Wraith’s.

Wearing dark red as their trade mark, the Red Wraiths crippled Mercian society launching countless raids on the racial capital of the Humans. Krishelbane came close to overwhelming the king’s forces, but in the end was defeated by a small group of adventures who vanquished the tower using an ancient language long since forgotten.

It’s been 500 years since the tower was said to be defeated. While most common people now dismiss the legend as myth, many others fear its return. Still some use it in children’s games; a popular tale is that it wasn’t destroyed; only buried under the town’s well. The children of Penshire have been known to take the game too far, digging up large plots around the well while looking for the tower.

Penshire:

West of Sanguine rests the small village of Penshire. Its residents remain loyal to the throne, and are controlled by a local lord. A simple one lane road runs through the center of this tiny nine building town.

In the center of the town is a stone well. Children play there during the day, at night it’s quiet and passersby may throw in small coins for luck or whisper a prayer to the Goddess.

Penshire is protected by the Mercian army. Patrols regularly swing by, often stopping to visit a popular inn known as the Scarlet Sire.

The Scarlet Sire (aka: the Red Wraith):

This popular inn boasts a wide variety of patrons. One of the Mercian Armies favorites, it’s also rumored to host “black market” type activities. The local townspeople of Penshire have nick named it, “The Red Wraith” because of its patron’s unscrupulous behavior.

Amarack Bookbinder’s:

Living peacefully in a small Mercian cottage, Amarack Bookbinder spends his days making and collecting books of various shapes and sizes. His home doubles as a book shop, although his collected works are not for sale, he may allow friends and special customers the privilege of browsing through his library if he’s in the right mood. To help supplement his income however, Amarack trades the materials for binding books that he doesn’t use, usually at an inflated cost. (Note: Amarack may also train good aligned players in the art of Book Binding.)

He’s also been known to write books on occasion, one of his most famous books is known as “The Book of Bane,” an unauthorized chronicle mapping the life and times of the notorious thief, Rinsol Krishelbane.

A thrall by birth, Amarack has done quite well for himself, being one of very few thralls to actually achieve some level of freedom. Still bound to by law to the service of the local lord, Amarack must send out adventures in secret to perform his tasks.

A Dynamic Quest:

The key to a quest being “dynamic” is for the player to have the ability to perform the quest many different times without losing interest. The following quest is designed for mass groups of players to be involved at the same time, without the replay value ever diminishing. I’ve done my best to keep the logic simple, though the quest itself is epic in nature.

1. Find and return the Book of Bane – To those players he’s trained in bookbinding, Amarack will offer the use of his library; the one book missing will be the Book of Bane (in its place will be a blank book with the same title). If the trained player asks about the book, Amarack will explain that it’s been lost. He’ll then tell the story of how and where he lost it.

Ultimately, the book must be returned to Amarack at some point. He wrote it, and the good actions of the players will see to it that he gets it back. Because the book has been lost so many times, Amarack hides it in his library, often using spells and other tricks to disguise it from prying eyes. When the book is truly missing, Amarack knows who took it, but not where it is or who has it at that exact moment. He’ll give this information when telling the player about the book for the first time. It’s now up to the player to decide what they do with this information. Do they look for the player that took it, interrogate him or her in hopes of finding out more information on its last whereabouts? It’s a detective game.

It’s up to the player if they choose to find the book. Amarack never asks nor expects such a feat. However, if the book is returned to Amarack, he’s most pleased and thus begins Quest #2. Returning the book to Amarack would be considered a “good” action.

There are other ways a player might be introduced to the book. The local lord of Penshire might hire PC’s to find it. The local thieves (at the Scarlet Sire Inn) might want to steal it. A high ranking official in the White Order might request that it be turned over to the church. Bottom line, the last person to ever see the book’s whereabouts (as far as any other NPC’s would know) was Amarack, so all quests to recover the item start with him.

Note: Because the recovered book is “hidden” it can not be stolen again unless a good aligned player that also has learned book binding from Amarack steals it. This limits the book’s circulation, and gives the quest some downtime. It also opens up opportunities for good aligned characters to work with Amarack to protect the book, or to recover the book.

Note: Amarack’s library also holds information on the tower itself. One key piece of information is that an excavation was conducted some 200 years ago to prove once and for all that the tower was NOT buried under the town well. Digging 50 feet underground, the town was satisfied that the tower had truly been destroyed, and the legend became myth to most townspeople.

Note: The tower was actually teleported to another dimension; buried through space and time by the Goddess herself.

2. Hide the knowledge of the book’s location – Besides Amarack; there are many other NPC’s that would desire the Book of Bane in their possession. Some wish to add it to their collection, others wish to destroy it (which they can’t), while most just want the power the Buried Tower is said to produce. There will be many players searching for the book as well, so the barer of the book must always be on guard.

If a player finds the Book of Bane, this sets off a chain reaction inside the Kingdom of Mercia. The white order has informants everywhere, and they will undoubtedly know if the book is being kept in their banks or their churches. The Mercian Army is as corrupt as the tower itself, and will likely know if the book travels through checkpoints, or is traded on the black market. If the book is discovered by these means, the respective NPC’s of Mercia will take action to recover the book for their own purposes.

It’s quite possible for other races to get involved in the book’s recovery as well. This would occur if the book were stolen, looted, or traded by a player of another race. Because the book is of a Human origin, the other races (NPC’s) would often be uninterested in its contents.

(Note: The Book of Bane is an artifact and can never leave the world. If a player logs off while the book is in their possession, the book remains in the world, probably on the ground for any passerby to find. Locate object spells only give the general location of the book, never the name of the person that holds it.)

Hiding, selling, giving away the book to an evil aligned player, would be a “neutral” action.

3. Using the book for your own desires of power – This will likely be the most popular option, and would of course be an act of “evil.”

The Book of Bane holds many of Rinsol Krishelbane’s memoirs, from the completely trivial “What I had for dinner on New Years” to the sublime and haunting tales of exploration and danger. The book itself will undoubtedly be copied word for word and published on the web. But that’s not the true value of the item. The true value is that this item is uniquely endowed with the ability to open the gates to the Buried Tower of Penshire. To use the book for this purpose is to become pure evil. The White Order, the Mercian Army, all those players of Good Alignment will instantly be opposed to you. The more power you wield, the more they’ll react, and ultimately the book will be taken back from you by force.

But evil is not without its advantages. The tower is well fortified, and comes complete with its own NPC minions. Air Elemental servants and Gargoyle Centurions round out the staff. It’s the perfect place to begin a reign of terror and destruction.

Finding the tower is more than difficult, it’s impossible without the book in hand. The tower rises on a full moon, and only in Penshire. For the player in possession of the book, the tower’s shadow is cast over the town. The base of that shadow marks the entrance (which btw is located in the well). To all those without the book, the tower remains unseen.

Note: Because of their keen dark vision, the Alfar can see the shadow without the book. However, they still need the book to open the gates.

The tower can only be unlocked when the character which possesses the book reads the keyword of opening, during a full moon, at the entrance way of the tower. When the tower is unlocked, it becomes visible and stationary. Its shadow casts itself over the surrounding lands, and night fall lasts twice as long there. The small town of Penshire is devoured by the tower which is surrounded by a maze of torn bushes. The maze shifts and twists to confuse all who enter it. The closer intruders get, the more it changes. It’s not impossible to make it through the maze, it’s just time consuming and difficult. Those who attempt to siege the tower by air find that it bares no viable place to land.

Once inside, the tower warps the mind by confusing direction. Stairs that lead up will take a player to the basement. Stairs that lead down will take a player to the roof. Mirrors will reflect the character standing next to you, if no other players exist, the mirrors will reflect a player that isn’t really there.

The tower will come complete with its own laboratory, allowing its master a full range of spells to cast from (even if he’s untrained). The tower will also have an observation room which holds a large pool of water surrounded by large chairs. allowing the master and his underlings to spy on neighboring lands. It’s an ideal place to hold clan meetings and plan war strategy.

The tower itself is relatively small in comparison to a Human Keep, but affords all the normal functionalities. Square in dimension, the walls are made of dull black obsidian and soar ten stories high.

To destroy the tower, players of good alignment must enter it, recover the Book of Bane, and say the key word written on the last page. The book must remain in the tower at all times, only the master of the tower has the power to remove the book and return the tower to its home dimension.

Summary:

It may not be obvious what I’m attempting to do here, so I’ll spell it out. I’m giving the evil players somewhat of a “capital city” to base themselves out of. Who hasn’t dreamt about having an evil tower of darkness before? But unlike the Mercian Capital, the Tower of Penshire can be destroyed (or put in hibernation). The good players work to stop this tower from rising, while the evil players work to bring it back. The neutral players can afford to ignore it, or use it to their own advantage.

The master of the tower will have many enemies, but the tower gives him (or her) a base of operations, and also gives him instant credibility (providing organization for the evil doers of the world). Many of the evil Humans should rally around the Master of the Tower, if not for their leadership for access into the stronghold. All in all it changes the dynamics of “home life” for the average Mercian citizen. It also makes a full moon unlucky.