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Secrets of the Tower

By Skip Williams

Table of Contents
 
Chapter One: History of the Tower
  High Sorcery is Born
  Building the Towers
  Througn the Ages

Chapter Two: The Tower's Environs
  Landscape and Climate
  Residents
  Beryl and the Tower
  Economy
  Notable Sites

Chapter Three: A Visit to the Tower
  The Approach
    Sidebar: Mobility
  The Tower's Defenses
  The Tower's Exteroir
    Sidebar: Rules of Conduct
  The Central Towers
    Map: The Crypts
    Map: Fourth Floor
    Sidebar: The Master
    Sidebar: Magic and the Tower
    Map: Jaclyn's Suite
    Map: Palin's Laboratory

     Chapter Four: Items of Magic
  Jaclyn's Introduction
  Determining an Item's Powers
  The Catalogue
    Using the Items
    Terminology
    Alchemical Mixtures
    Magical Writings
    Rings
    Rods
    Staves
    Wands
    Other Items

Credits

Editor: Sue Weinlein Cook
Proofreader: Cerrie A. Bebris
Creative Director: Harold Johnson
Typographer: Angelika Lokotz
Graphic Designers: Shan Ren and Dawn Murin
Cover Illustrator: Jeff Easley
Interior Illustrators: Jason Burrows, James A. Crabtree, and Valerie Valusek
Cartohraphers: Diesel and Rob Lazzaretti
Art Director: S. Daniele
Special Thanks To: William W. Connors, Steve Miller, Sue Weinlein Cook, Karen Wynn Fonstad, and to Margaret Weis, Tracy Hickman, and Mary Kirchoff, whose novels provided this book with descriptive quotes to begin each chapter.

The Fifth Age authors gratefully acknowledge the original pioneers of Krynn: Larry Elmore, Jeff Grubb, Harold Johnson, Douglas Niles, Carl Smith, Michael Williams - and, of course, Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman.

Author's Foreword:

Welcome to the Tower of High Sorcery at Wayreth, a bastion of magic that has stood for three millennia. This Tower, where famed archmage Raistlin Majere once took his Test of High Sorcery, has endured two world-shaking cataclysms, one attempt to overthrow the gods, and no mortal knows what else!

This book puts the most exhaustive collection of lore about the Tower right at your fingertips. The basic material is drawn from twelve years' worth of DRAGONLANCE novels and games. Best of all, these coveted Secrets of the Tower have been updated to the current Fifth Age of Krynn and adapted for the SAGA rules system.

Within these pages, you'll glimpse the mysterious residents of the Tower and some of the magical treasures stored within. Chapter One delves into the building of the five Towers of High Sorcery and the history of Wayreth in particular. Chapter Two looks more closely at the area around the Tower as it exists today. In Chapter Three, you receive a visitor's tour of the Tower - plus you get to peek into areas no visitor is allowed to enter, including the Master of the Tower's study and Palin Majere's laboratory. This chapter also includes valuable maps to help you plan your own unique scenes in and around the Tower.

Finally, Chapter Four presents an accounting of Krynn's items of magic. The description of each item is taken from the journals of a learned mage, and game details for each one explain the objectts arcane powers and how heroes can use them in adventures.

If you're interested in reading more about the Towers of High Sorcery; especially Wayreth, look for these DRAGONLANCE books:

- The Legends trilogy: Time of the Twins, Test of the Twins, and War of the Twins, by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman.
- The Defenders of Magic trilogy: Night of the Eye, The Medusa Plague, and The Seventh Sentinel, by Mary Kirchoff.
- The Reign of Istar (especially "The Silken Threads"), an anthology.
- Hammer and Axe, by Dan Parkinson (an entertaining though largely apocryphal tale involving the Tower, told from the dwarven point of view).
- The Magic of Krynn (especially "Test of the Twins" and "The Legacy"), an anthology.

Your trip through the Tower will introduce you to magic from all of Krynn's Great Ages, including the Age of Mortals. Enjoy the journey!

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