Post/Author/DateTime	Post
GoriceXII 04-03-07, 03:18 PM	For a while in my campaign some of my players have been fascinated by an ancient seemingly unbreakable glass tower that is in a small city named after it. One of my players believes it is in some way involving psionics, while others have believed it was built by some ancient magical race. However no one knows. It is known that once in recent history when a goblinoid invasion took place that citizens found the door mysteriously opened and found themselves able to get inside to save themselves. It apparently had several rooms inside though there were other doors they could not open. When they emerged it closed again and was impervious to spell or power. I'm trying to figure out what the tower could be--I have to be honest and say that it was whimsy that put it there. It might make for an interesting objective for an adventure but I'm not sure. The players kind of what to find out what it is and at the same time they are supposed to scout out the area--it is occuppied by an enemy force.
TheDarkPrince 04-03-07, 04:59 PM	Have you read any R.A. Salvatore?? If so, say it is a replica tower of Crenshinibon, that has somehow survived without Crenshinibon's influence.
Zaxon D'Mir 04-03-07, 05:32 PM	I had an idea similiar to this a while back. I had a rather large tower of blue glass (simply called the Tower of Blue Glass). It served as my Castle Greyhawk and Undermountain rolled into one. It's the home to a mysterious female cosmic figure with godlike abilities. The tower contains almost an infinite number of rooms and chambers. So, as an idea you could have it the ancient dwelling of a lich, demi-lich or some transcended being. Perhaps the last remnants of a powerful kingdom of magic and this was the palace of its Wizard King. I was thinking about putting something like this into my Tarnished Sun setting in some fashion. Gorice, I like the way you think.
KeshFerrar 04-03-07, 06:38 PM	Its really the prison of X (insert BBE) The library of a lost race -- but the library is one of memories stored in crystal shards A lost beacon of some extra planar race -- if the PCs activate it, watch out A magic siphon and battery. Its slowly been siphoning power out of the surroundings for years (people, things, the world). An ancient mage built it to aid in his magic research, but he died before he could use it, and its been collecting ever since. However, its reached max charge, and now there's trouble. Hope that helps!
Delfedd 04-03-07, 09:18 PM	Here's an idea. Let your players find more of these towers. Every now and again, they find another one. Later in the campaign, bring in The Ethergaunts (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethergaunt) http://www.wizards.com/dnd/images/ff_gallery/50118.jpg YEAH! these guys are terrifying. And unless your players have read the fiend folio, they will have no idea what's happening. Make this out to be like war of the worlds. Strange beings from another time and space come through the glass towers. Perhaps they built the towers. perhaps they only use it as a staging post.
GoriceXII 04-04-07, 09:08 AM	Ethergaunts...yikes! Hm...lots of good ideas...what about a synthesis of some of the above? Like the tower itself contains its own drama...
Yayhya 04-04-07, 10:04 AM	I had one of those two they served as a portal type thing, as well as a giant magical focus . . . this evil Wizard used it to raise an army of demons. You could use it as: A reliquary A prison for some god A magical focus point A magical portal A device from a long dead race A focus for some other form of power A giant magic item/artifact
77IM 04-04-07, 11:08 AM	I would reveal the mystery gradually. For example, on this trip all the PCs would learn is that the tower extends downwards into the ground exactly the same distance and shape as it extends upwards (it has horizontal lateral symettry). Later, they encounter an upside-down dungeon. Weird. My ultimate idea is: In the distant past, the tower assembled itself from shards of glass in the area (it used to be referred to as "broken glass area" in elvish). It did this just in time to avert some major disaster -- maybe two powerful wizards and/or demigods were fighting, and the "evil" one fired a spell at the "good" one, and the tower sprung up and took the spell instead, allowing the good one to win the fight. This is all told in murals and things in an old dungeon somewhere. Eventually the PCs discover that followers of the good and evil wizards are still around and still doing battle. Magical analysis of the glass tower shows that it is progressing through time backwards, growing younger as the rest of the world grows older. It turns out that, at some point in the future, a powerful wizard is going to create the tower, reverse its direction in the time stream, so that it will be present in the past at exactly the spot where it takes the shot from the evil wizard and then shatters (only in reverse, so to the onlookers it seems to have sprung up from shards). The henchmen of the evil wizard are going to try to prevent the tower's creation and thus change the past, and it's up to the PCs to stop them and allow the tower to be created. OK, that's maybe more involved than you wanted for something that was placed on a whim. :D -- 77IM
jamvid 04-04-07, 08:33 PM	Maybe the tower was the creation of a powerful Psion, who was so wise in the psionic arts that her psicrystal was the size of a tower; she decided to live in it and carved it into a series of spatially-defying halls and rooms. Some say she held a deep connection to her psicrystal tower, others say she was senile, but either way she imbued her tower with the property to absorb her soul when she died. For years the tower remained a friendly and welcoming stop for adventurers or travelers, with hospitality ready and food appearing. as an odd side-affect of the Psion binding herself to the tower, the tower began to allow in the souls of other dead too, which wouldn't be too much of a problem (the souls have just as much control over the tower as they were powerful in life, unless there were many with the same ideals), except that a group of pilgrims set up a town around the tower and began worshipping. There was a strict regimen imposed by the clergy. Demanding sacrifices made to the tower daily, failure to comply resulted in banishment from the fanatic city. One rule the clergy held strictly, punishable by death, was that none can enter the tower. Ever. At one point there was a corrupt leader in the church, who increased the offering size from all of villagers, who were faithful to the religion, and complied. Unfortunately, most of the offerings were not sacrificed, but kept by the leader. The town may have just quietly went on, following their strict faith, had not a Wizard promising prosperity and joy would come from destroying the unjust government. In reality the only truely corrupt official was the leader, but the citizens, following the powerful hand of the wizard, did not discriminate the others from him. Because of this, the faithful clergy, along with a few generations of followers, went into the tower, forming into a conglomerate whole. Thus they blocked the door from outside use. This, however, did not stop the wizard. He opened the tower, and turned it to his own use. He discovered that it went far into the underdark ((I'm taking the inverted symmetrical idea from 77IM)), and soon sent his influence there too. He amassed a trading relationship with the drow (or any other underdark race). He was a horrible ruler, and the people were worse off than with the greedy priest. He had them as his slaves, simply working to make a profit for him to do more magical research and create more powerful items. One day, he stopped everything; never punishing the villagers or exerting his power over the land, or trading. He stopped some say he was killed by the tower itself, but most say he was murdered by the drow he aligned with. Either way he too now counts himself as a powerful will over the crystal tower. The drow, ever the cold and calculating, sought to make the same enterprise as the wizard. It had only been a decade or so, but the city had been annexed (very willingly) into the country they are in now (or it's long ago time equivalent), and a governor had been appointed. The country was at war with another country, one that had driven it's armies into this land. The city was only a few days ride away from the border that was growing closer. The drow attacked fast and devastated the town watch, the governor, fearing for his people's lives (or, as some say, his own power), sent a messenger to the enemy, pleading for help (the nation's army was far away). In return for help, the governor promised to surrender the town to the enemy, and help them with their attack by giving plans for defense of the region. They drove the drow back (the door sealing once more), and the city stayed relatively peaceful (they had a better contact to the conquering people than other towns), a least until the invaders began losing. They had been pushed back by regrouped forces of the kingdom. Armies came, and fought with the city as the battleground both side killed countless soldiers all in one bloodthirsty state, but eventually, the nation that the settlement originally belonged to was victorious. The dead warrior’s souls went together into the crystal, where they still wage war. The warriors of the invading state were killed and, unfortunately, so were the citizens. The woman in charge of the retaking of the cities was spiteful and war-torn. She had seen plenty death from the invaders, and considered every person in the town a trader. The governors head on a pike watched more than a half of the people murdered. It would have been all if not for higher ups stopping the general before she killed everyone. The people had no refuge, no safe place and were always in danger of death. The man who then came to power was appointed as the governor, but those killed by the previous general went on as a sympathetic force of the tower. The governor had a great interest in the tower that could not be destroyed and spent a great amount of resources into researching this. Most knowledge of the tower, however, comes from the inside. Goblinoids are never the nicest people. It’s safe to say that when they conquered, the citizens weren't having fun. The souls of those who were killed by the massacring lady were sympathetic, and made sure that the living would have refuge where the dead had none they used their power and took away the door from the controlling hands of the priests who held it close and let refugees in until they were safe. Now that an army is invading the doors might open again. Allowing the PC's to find out what this crystal tower really is. The tower only slightly follows the laws of physics, it could be larger, smaller or the same as it is on the outside. there are several entities that exist in the tower that have divided it amongst themselves, not just spatially, but temporally as well so the PC's could be eating a meal the good Psion made, and then be attacked by spirits of the warriors. The entities I have suggested are: -the Psion (CG) -the priests (LN) -the wizard (CE) -the warriors [of both the nation the cities in and of the invaders of older times. they constantly fight.] (Alignments of the nations) -the victims (NG) You could easily remove, add or replace as many as you like. The entities mostly just influence the tower itself. From locking doors (like the victims could have been doing in order to protect the refugees from more violent entities), to rearranging hallways and changing the rooms. They could also, however, manifest themselves as undead (the warriors like to do this in order to fight the other faction).
GoriceXII 04-05-07, 06:39 AM	One thing I am thinking based on some of your thoughts is this: the people who live in the city must have SOME thoughts about it. While the average person probably takes it for granted the fact is it is an unusual and legendary building. I was thinking that there might be a few different approaches to this: 1. Strange rumors and thoughts. I might use even some of the ideas here that don't fit together as theories that sages and philosophers might put about, based on fragments of old texts or something. 2. An expectant cult--with the war on, with the possible destruction of the Republic at hand, surely Those Who Are Expected will emerge! 3. A serious cabal of wizards/clerics/adventurers who have been trying to get in again based on some idea that they have--and perhaps have been captured for interrogation by the enemy force. I also had these thoughts--I'm avoiding stating which idea above I like best yet because I am still consider them!-- The Tower Admits People on this Basis: 1. They are badly wounded. (somehow they get into a room where they fall into a deep sleep or something and wake up healed some time later with a door leading out of the tower and no way further into it--normally) 2. They are helpless. (this is hard to define perhaps but for instance if the tower is magical/psionic then it perhaps senses the emotional state of the people in question. Again, similarly, it will harbour them but not allow them to casually explore. 3. They are 'pure of heart'. I'm still working on what this would mean. The Tower has defenses: The tower has a number of traps and other defenses in it that are activated if magic or other means are used to start forcing doors and such open.
Delfedd 04-05-07, 11:26 AM	I like the pure of heart. This, of course, means the good people with no qualms about being good. BUT... It also means the neutral people who came in from the seige. It didn't admit the orcs, because they have some qualms about their evil alignment. They can't help see these people as living creatures. However... Pure of heart also means evil. Pure... undiluted Evil. I can imagine a climactic battle. Another siege situation against the BBEG's forces. The party and townsfolk all hide in the tower. The evil forces (mostly humanoid though) press in on the glass walls, but cannot enter. The townsfolk are relieved. Then the BBEG walks up to the door with his Balor ally. The door opens. :D
Thought 04-05-07, 01:03 PM	What if the tower itself is alive and intelligent? It might admit those who need help, but it does so on its own choosing and not on some abstract concept. It helped the towns people because it was accustomed to them and like the people. Where did it come from? The tower itself doesn't know; like a child, it came into its awareness. However, this isn't to say that the tower has always been like it is now. It knows that it has been growing over countless years (perhaps its earliest memory was when it was much smaller, the size of a house, and it grew fond of the animals that would come to lay in its shade). The tower may not know where it came from anymore than a tree knows where it came from (assuming it has been awakened to be able to know such things at all). Yet it grows so slow that people found it and settled the area around it without ever having reason to notice that it was growing. It grows by extracting minerals from the ground and it gets its energy from the sun (just like a plant). However, as "waste" one might be able to find rooms full of pure gold, silver, uncut diamonds, etc. For another reason the city might get attacked yet the people find help in the personage of the mysterious glass tower.
GoriceXII 04-06-07, 06:10 PM	That's an interesting twist...and certainly could be applied to other aspects. It makes it not so much something sinister as a sentient object that can be used by those involved should they be able to do so... Other Thoughts: What if using the Tower of the Psion idea the tower is in part the repository of her spirit but as with many tales of the dead the spirit is not really truly aware of the world of the living?
Xavon 04-06-07, 11:17 PM	The tower is the physical manifestation of the mind of a god.
GoriceXII 04-13-07, 07:41 AM	The Two Lords of Glasstower Glasstower was forced to surrender, but was not overrun like Harbourtown. Therefore the King has permitted the people to live as they did before but under his laws. He required them to give a quarter of their goods up and to provide services to some extent for the army. In turn he promised that any of his forces who committed acts of theft, rape or other brutality would be hanged. Lord Taran, a rather stern and cold man, was appointed Provost, known to be unyielding in matters of law and custom and a solid commander. One of his tasks is inventorying all the tributary goods and organizing them for shipment to the army as it marches north on Touchstone. The other lord of Glasstower is Lord Fessen, a second cousin to King Obed the Deceased, former King of New Edom, and claimant to the throne, such as it is. He is a middle aged aristocrat who fled the uprising that formed the Republic and managed to survive at various courts and cities. He is backed partly by Cleothas but also by certain Yasg merchants who hope to gain a great deal of capital from the region. Fessen knows he is mocked behind his back as the Beggar Prince of Edom, that he is a joke to Cleothas' courtiers. At the same time Cleothas is using him in part as a gamble; if he is accepted at all as a local ruler then Cleothas will simply keep him as a puppet. If not he will fob him off with Glasstower as a source of revenue--which he will require to give of to the King as his duty--and leave Taran as a Provost indefinately. Fessen is not stupid nor weak personally; he has been very unlucky and his money all comes from the King's reluctant purse and from the Yasg merchants. He recently married the daughter of one of the King's paxmen and she is present as well with a number of knights and warriors who are obviously meant to keep an eye on him. He does have an ace up his sleeve; he has certain ancient scrolls that might indicate the truth of how the Glass Tower functions, its possible origins and purpose. If he could command such power he might be able to enter it and then truly be seen as a great man in his former country--and attain a crown in his own right. he also has two Yasg merchant-venturers as advisors, who will be willing to help him to a point as they hope he will have more income, and 20 mercenary soldiers he hired. The Circle of Expectation Mostly this is a cult that believes that the Tower contains a god that will bring them salvation in a time of great need. Some rather more sophisticated members of the group philosophize about the Tower and what it may contain, but mostly it is ordinary folk who now and then do vigils with white candles around the Tower, which is surrounded at present by a rather pretty public green where markets and festivals are held--though there is always a respectful amount of space around the Tower. The legend of its protection is impressive to the occupying force, and currently some druids are exhausting themselves trying to figure out how to get in. The Circle smugly watches this believing that the 'unrighteous' will not be able to get in at all. However their leadership is a little more curious. In former times they were advisors to the King, Obed, and were psions and psionic warriors who were aware of psychic energies coming from the Tower but were unable to do more than detect that. They were mostly slaughtered by Lord Aholibamah and other wizards and clerics during the uprising and the remainder hid or fled. It was they who created the cult. While it is not much of an army--mostly made up of ordinary city folk--it is certain a means for information and hiding places. The leadership is small--about 9 Psions and 2 Psionic Warriors--and they are called Visionaries. The membership of the cult have special crystal tower pendants they keep hidden and are resonant. To the cult this is proof of divinity, that they feel a sense of bliss as they touch the pendant. To the 'Visionaries' it is proof that it was made by one of their number. They intend to contact Fessen--he has visited a few sages in town as discreetly as possible but one has a scribe who is a member of the Circle who reported it. They would prefer to just use their abilities to take the scrolls but they might prefer to just use him and if things go wrong have him take the brunt of things. They believe anyway that a non psionic will be unable to use whatever information/gifts/glorious benefits exist within the Tower...