A Visit to the Tower
The High Sorcery
at Wayreth is at the best
of times... difficult to
find. Guided by the
powerful Wizards of
the Conclave, the tower
roams its
enchanted forest, the wildest
of the wild creatures within its
boundaries. One often sees
young mages standing, hovering,
on the outskirts of Wayreth
Forest, their breath coming
fast, their skin pale, their hands
nervously clenching. They stand
hesitating on the outskirts of
their destiny. If they are bold
and enter, the forest will
permit them. The tower will
find them. Their fate will be
determined.
- Approaching the Tower,
"The Silken Threads" in
The Reign of Istar
As one of the very strongest magical
artifacts on Krynn - perhaps the
strongest artifact - the Tower possesses
an array of powers that most people,
even sorcerers, don't fully appreciate.
The Tower is best known for its legendary mobility, but that's only one of
its abilities.
Note: Unless noted otherwise, the
information presented in this chapter is
for the Narrator's eyes only. Stories
about the Tower abound in Ansalon,
but the real details remain elusive to
heroes.
The Approach
The Tower's legendary mobile nature
(see sidebar, next page) poses a challenge
to those seeking the magical fortress.
Many have tried to locate someone who
has been there, thinking such a person
could describe the route through Wayreth. Honest folk usually refuse to
answer such requests, but the unscrupulous might pretend to have useful knowledge. The fact of the matter is that:
- No one knows where the Tower of
Wayreth truly lies; and
- Only the Tower of Wayreth can
guide visitors to itself.
Clearly, a sorcerer who has visited
the Tower a hundred times has no
more knowledge of its true location
than a gully dwarf would.
Only once in the history of Krynn
was anyone able to approach the Tower
without permission. During the Fourth
Age, the renegade wizard Lyim Rhistadt
used Ventyr - a powerful, antimagical
artifact - to paralyze the Tower's
defenses and attack it. Bram DiThon, a
nobleman from Northern Ergoth,
helped the Conclave thwart Rhistadt.
The wizards presented Ventyr to the
dwarves of Thorbardin in gratitude for
their aid during the assault. At the same
time, they altered the Tower's defenses to
defeat any future attempt to circumvent
them. The gods might also have
strengthened the Tower before withdrawing from Krynn for, in the Fifth
Age, anyone wishing to visit this magical
refuge must do so on the Tower's terms.
Setting Out
When any person or creature within 6ve
hundred miles of the Tower desires to
visit or resolves to locate it, the Tower
instantly detects this intent - even if the
creature's mind is magically shielded.
The Tower decides whether to allow the
individual to enter and determines how hard he must work to get there. It's quite
possible for Palin Majere to step out of
his Academy of Sorcery near Solace,
enter the Forest of Wayreth, and pass
into the Tower with Just a few steps.
Indeed, Palin often makes just such a
trip - because the Tower lets him.
In game play, the Narrator must
decide which heroes and characters the
Tower admits. As a general rule, a visitor must have a Reason code of "A" to
be welcome there, but the Tower often
admits members of the Qualinesti
resistance and other individuals who
might benefit from a visit or help further its own interests. A magical entity,
the Tower usually does not admit anyone who seeks to harm its residents,
steal items in its stores, or seize control
of it. Occasionally, the Narrator might
encounter a hero who seems to have a
legitimate desire to enter the Tower, but
proceeds to misbehave once he gets
there. Anyone who breaks the Tower's rules of conduct (see sidebar on page
20) either finds himself confined to the
dungeon or expelled from the Tower.
Within the guardian forest (and
within its own walls), the Tower controls direction and distance. A visitor
might continuously traverse the same
stretch of ground, move in circles, or
reverse course. However, the visitor
perceives nothing unusual - his movement seems perfectly normal to him.
Nothing a visitor does can foil the
Tower's manipulation of space and direction. Flying over the forest proves just as
uncertain as walking. Summoning spells
and devices intended to whisk the user
to the Tower fail no matter where the
traveler starts from - unless the Tower
wishes to admit him, of course.
Uninvited Visitors
Trespassers in Wayreth Forest often find
the surroundings unpleasant. No matter what the weather, the forest can appear
gloomy or blacker than a moonless, starless night. Wind can whip through the
trees, creating a low, eerie roar - enough
to make even a kender feel uneasy.
Sometimes the trees seem to speak
among themselves, murmuring angrily.
Most unwelcome visitors who fail to
leave of their own accord suffer attacks
from the trees; the Master orders such
assaults with a thought. The trees have
the following game characteristics:
Wayreth trees: Animated plants, Co 6,
Ph 36, In 6, Es 8, Dmg +12, Def -5,
also thrown weapons (nuts, fruits,
broken branches).
Rooted in place, the enchanted trees
cannot change range, but they can
oppose attempts to change range by
using their branches to impede others'
movement. They prefer not to assail
trespassers directly but to merely trap
them in their branches, which inflicts
only 12 damage points. Someone
pinned in this way must perform a
daunting Strength action to get free. As
the trees are not actually gripping the
victim - he is merely entangled in their
branches - they cannot oppose the
action. While trapped, a victim can
attempt no action other than trying to
get free. A captive who does not get
free finds himself rapidly handed from
tree to tree until he has suddenly left
the forest (see below).
The victim does not suffer additional damage while caught, but the
tree can keep attacking others while
holding him. A victim's companions
can wrench him free with a daunting
Strength action of their own, or they
can hack away at the branches with
sharp weapons. Ten damage points
inflicted by sharp weapons will free the
victim, though this attack does not
otherwise affect the tree.
The Tower can direct a virtually
unlimited number of trees at a group
of invaders, but usually employs only
one tree per two trespassers. Once the
victims defeat or evade the trees, the
Tower usually waits about an hour before ordering additional trees to
attack. Wise intruders leave the forest
before they must face the trees again.
Sometimes, the Tower opts for a
more subtle approach when discouraging unwanted guests. On these occasions, it simply manipulates distance
and direction so the intruders unwittingly move out of the forest on their
own. It's possible for someone traveling
south to cross the Ahlanlas River
bound for the Tower and suddenly find
himself walking out of the woods on
the Cape of Caergoth, though the
Tower usually doesn't displace anyone
more than a mile or two.
The Tower doesn't discourage all
visitors. Occasionally, it even beckons
to sorcerers who might have second
thoughts about making the trip. Travelers have reported hearing an alluring
birdsong that promised to fulfill their
hearts' desires. Others have fallen asleep
on the outskirts of the forest, only to
waken surrounded by trees and unable
to leave the forest.
Before the Fifth Age, uninvited visitors meeting hostile receptions have
been known to convince the Conclave
of their good intentions by braving the
assault from the trees and explaining
themselves aloud while steadfastly
moving through the forest. If the Narrator thinks the heroes have a good reason for approaching, he can allow them
each the following action (accompanied by appropriate role-playing):
Persuade the Tower
Difficulty: Average (8)
Action ability: Presence
Opposition ability: None
Comments: Heroes can convince the
Tower to let them find it through their
words and actions. Success allows the
traveler(s) to reach the Tower without
further harassment, while failure
means he must struggle further.
Mishap: The Tower displaces the hero(es)
someplace inhospitable at the far limits of
its reach - perhaps the Plains of Dust or
glacial Southern Ergoth.
Limitations
Though no one can find the Tower if it
doesn't want to be found, the magical
structure's ability to control other
activities in its vicinity has some limits.
First, it can shift the guardian forest
only once each minute, and can allow it
to touch Krynn in just one place at a
time. The Tower can, however, decide
exactly how much of Krynn the forest
touches at once, from a few square feet
to its entire ten-mile area.
Likewise, the Tower can manipulate
direction and distance in only one section of Wayreth Forest at a time,
though it decides how large an area to
affect. If many different individuals try
to find the Tower at once, it might be
several hours before it can attend to
them all. This is why Beryl's patrols
have been somewhat effective in isolating the Tower - the Green Dragon uses
so many troops, the Tower can't thwart
them all at once.
Mobility
Most folk of Ansalon believe the
Tower of Wayreth can move about its
forest, literally evading any intruder it
declines to meet. The troth is even
more bizarre than that.
The Tower and its guardian forest
(see Chapter One) actually exist in a
transdimensional world of their own,
magically anchored to Krynn but
existing outside of the world's normal
dimensions. Travel between Wayreth
Forest and the rest of Krynn is possible only where the two worlds touch,
and the Tower decides where they
touch at any given moment. This ability makes a mortal observer see the
forest seem to shift - both in its layout
and in its location relative to landmarks on Krynn. The Tower can even
appear somewhere without the forest.
This unique trait, conferred upon
the Tower by the Conclave members who built it, is the most effective of all
the abilities of the guardian forests - after all, it is the only Tower left. Wayreth's ability may have been devised to
offer special protection for the seat of
the Conclave and has also made it the
wizards' last refuge throughout the ages.
No other Tower of High Sorcery ever
enjoyed its own transdimensional field.
Wayreth Forest fills an area ten
miles in diameter, with the Tower
standing at its precise center. However, the guardian forest can touch
Krynn at any spot within five hundred miles of the Tower's construction site, where three thousand years
ago the wizards planted the stone of
threes. As a result, Wayreth Forest can
appear to onlookers anywhere from
the edge of the Icewall Glacier north
to Abanasinia, and from Qualimori
east to just beyond Tarsis. (The poster
map illustrates the range of Wayreth's
transdimensional field.)
The Tower's Defenses
The guardian Forest of Wayreth and
the ability to shift its apparent location
are not the only defenses the Wizards'
Conclave granted to their most important Tower of High Sorcery. Other special abilities help make it nearly
invulnerable.
Concealment
Neither the Tower nor anything inside
it can be detected with a divination or
sensitivity spell or with any ability or
item that creates a similar effect. A hero
with a crystal ball, for example, can
learn nothing about the Tower or anyone inside it.
The Tower renders individuals and
objects inside its outer walls immune
to most spells and magical effects created outside the Tower (described in
the sidebar titled "Magic and the
Tower" on page 32).
Indestructibility
Another of the Tower's defenses is that
no force on Krynn can mar or alter it
in any way - unlike the other Towers of
High Sorcery. The walls, floors, and
ceilings are impervious to all spells,
magical items, and weapons. Even in
the alternate future witnessed by Caramon Majere and Tasslehoff Burrfoot,
when Raistlin Majere ravaged the
entire face of Krynn in his attempt to
become a god, the Tower and its forest
remained intact. If some force pulverized Krynn into dust and chunks of
rock, Wayreth Tower and Forest would
still occupy one chunk, thanks to its
transdimensional existence. (Trees in
the guardian forest fall prey to damage
only when animated to attack.)
Things within the Tower do not
share its invulnerability, however. For
example, a blast of magical fire inside a
chamber wouldn't even scorch the
walls, but it could incinerate tables,
carpets - and heroes.
The Tower's Exterior
Most visitors are surprised that the
Tower at Wayreth is not a single tower
at all, but a complex of seven spires
surrounded by a protective wall. Some
guests wonder why it isn't called the
Towers of Wayreth," but residents just
smile and note that the Tower inspires
many such unanswerable questions.
Nevertheless, most people find this
bastion of magic an imposing, if not
unnerving, sight. The enormous complex seems shaped from one unbroken
piece of obsidian, polished to a mirror
shine. The walls are indeed formed from
one seamless block of gleaming black
stone, but not obsidian. The wizards
who built the Tower drew their materials from the very essence of the world,
magically forming a granitelike stone as
tough and dense as the planet s core.
Though mostly smooth, the exterior
walls bear thousands of powerful magical runes, testaments to the arcane
power of a bygone age. These carved,
untinted runes range in size from symbols no larger than one might write in
a letter to characters as tall as houses.
The glossy walls gleam brilliantly in
the sun, despite their blackness. At
night, they mirror the moon and stars,
though their curves distort the reflections and seem to create new constellations among the runes.
The complex's outer walls come
together to form an equilateral triangle,
with each side nearly three hundred
feet long. Three small towers, less than
a third the height of the main towers - stand at the points of the triangle. In
the center rise the two main towers,
each almost as high as the surrounding
walls are long. These main towers have
an almost imperceptible bow and
appear to curve slightly inward. The
shape makes some visitors blink and
ask themselves, "Aren't those crooked?"
More imaginative viewers liken the
towers to a pair of dark talons or blackened, skeletal fingers clawing their way
out of a grave.
Two smaller towers between the
great ones, one in front of the main
pair (the foretower) and one in the
rear, hold the entrances. Together, these
four form Wayreth's central towers.
All the towers and walls have
smoothly curved tops. The complex has
no battlements - it has no need of such
mundane defenses. Of course, from
time to time, visitors with a larcenous
streak have tried to climb the walls.
Climbers always find the smooth stone
as slippery as soap, utterly unscalable.
The Outer Towers
The three outer towers at the points of
the complex's triangular surrounding
wall are mostly solid stone. However,
each contains a central floor with two
small laboratories. Tower residents
whose experiments might produce noxious or destructive results do their work
here, some thirty feet above the ground.
Each tower's top floor contains a
single large room whose windows
admit plenty of sun and afford lovely
views of Wayreth Forest. Sorcerers
come to these chambers to lounge and
meditate.
The Gate and Courtyards
A gate in the center of the east wall
provides the only ground-level
entrance to the complex. The gate has
two valves that swing outward, each
standing almost twenty feet tall - just a
little shorter than the wall itself. The
valves look as delicate as great spider-webs spun from silver and gold. Nevertheless, they share the Tower's
invulnerability and can withstand endless pounding from the greatest battering ram. The gate opens with the
slightest touch to a welcome visitor,
and even swings open as travelers
approach, as if to invite guests inside.
Beyond the gate, a visitor finds the
front courtyard, a vast, empty space
paved with pale gray stone. Before the
Fifth Age, anyone entering the courtyard saw fleeting glimpses of other visitors hurrying about their
business-the Tower's distorted space
rendered them all but invisible. Today,
the courtyard stands silent, and a lone
visitor crossing the flagstones has only
the echoes of his footfalls for company.
The entrance to the Tower proper
lies in the foretower directly opposite
the gate. However, visitors choosing to
skirt this main entrance and peek at
the rear courtyard find a slightly more
welcoming sight. A few Tower residents
grow fruit trees, culinary herbs, and
flowers here. Long rows of tubs and pots hold the greenery, and one or two
apprentices here tend the plants
throughout the day (except in winter).
These individuals seem friendly
enough, but they quickly recognize
outsiders when they see them and
direct all visitors to the foretower.
Rules of Conduct
The Tower has two basic rules of conduct all visitors must obey: no fighting,
and no going where you aren't invited.
This bastion of magic has no need
for a garrison or guards. As visitors can
reach the Tower only if they are welcome, they usually pose no threat. Nevertheless, all visitors are expected to
treat the Tower as neutral ground. No
fighting is tolerated, no matter what
enmities residents or visitors might have
in the outside world. People who break
the peace usually find themselves in the
dungeon (see page 23). Anyone who
knows the rule against fighting and
launches an attack anyway is struck
dead on the spot - no resistance is
allowed. (Fighting during a Test of High
Sorcery or in the dream world of the
dungeon does not technically offer violence to another visitor or a resident.)
As for the second rule, most visitors
never find themselves where they shouldn't be - the Tower can manipulate space
within its walls just as easily as it can shift
the forest without. When left to explore,
guests are simply told not to enter any
door that doesn't open itself to them.
Folktales say that no door in the
Tower is ever locked because the wizards
of the Conclave always trusted each
other there. In fact, every door seems to
be locked, though one might open on
its own or with the help of someone
who has passed a Test of High Sorcery.
Heroes faced with a door that won't
open by itself can attempt normal
actions to force it open or pick the lock.
However, after the kender Tasslehoff
Burrfoot visited in 354AC and got into
mischief, the Tower became more sensitive to unauthorized exploration. If anyone breaks into a room where he doesn't
belong, the Master of the Tower sends
someone to investigate or does so himself. Trespassers receive one warning;
further violations result in expulsion
from the Tower or a trip to the dungeon.
Expelled visitors magically emerge
five hundred miles from the Tower -
usually in unpleasant terrain. Those
who have severely vexed the Master may
find themselves swimming in the chilly
waters of Ice Mountain Bay.
Anyone with a Reason code of "B" or
higher knows the two basic rules. They
are part of Ansalon's magical lore - as
are the consequences of breaking them.
The Central Towers
The two main towers have seventeen
floors each - a height that certainly
required magical assistance to build
and maintain. Unless noted otherwise,
ceilings are fifteen feet high and floors
consist of rough slate tiles. Most areas
are unlit, so windowless spaces remain
completely dark throughout the day.
The small windows in other rooms do
little to dispel the prevalent gloom.
Despite its great age (nearly three
thousand years), the Tower remains
unblemished-its invulnerability
makes it immune even to normal wear
and tear. Unused areas can accumulate
lots of dust, but the entire complex
remains free of vermin: Such animals
are no more able to enter the Tower
than any other unwelcome visitors. The resident wizards keep public areas
scrupulously clean.
The following paragraphs describe
areas that casual visitors might enter
within the four central towers. Floor-plans of each area appear in this chapter or on the accompanying mapsheet.
Directions Indoors
The Tower's ability to distort spatial
perceptions can produce some strange
results for guests. Walking down a
straight hallway within the Tower does
not necessarily take visitors in a straight
line. Walking up a north staircase does
not necessarily take them up, or even
north. It may not make sense, but that's
just the nature of the Tower's reality.
Things are usually not as they seem.
Despite this unique reality imposed
by the transdimensional field, the
Tower always maintains its proper orientation. That means compass directions are always as they appear on the
maps in this chapter. The Tower cannot
change its floorplan or physically shift
the location of any rooms within it. All
it can do is confuse people by altering
their perceptions. Visitors may lose
track of the direction, but north is
always north - no matter how things
may seem to have moved!
Underground Chambers
The imposing appearance of the cen-
tral towers causes many visitors to for-
get that the Tower contains important
underground facilities.
Crypts
About fifty feet below the central towers
lies a complex of crypts where many
Conclave members enjoy their eternal
sleep. During the Fifth Age, any veteran
of the Test of High Sorcery also may
claim a burial site here.
The main crypt is a round chamber
some sixty-five feet wide. This central
chamber contains two dozen vaults,
where past heads of the Conclave and others who have rendered great service
to the Conclave lie. Each of the twenty
occupied vaults is marked with a golden
slab enameled in red, black or white,
according to the occupant's order.
The domed ceiling here bears a representation of Ansalon's night sky as it
appeared above the Tower before the
Chaos War. This fully animated scene
shows Krynn's three moons and old
constellations rising and falling with
the passing hours. The depiction represents one of the continent's most complete records of Ansalon's old stars.
Extensive catacombs spread out
from the central crypts in three spokes,
one for each order in the Conclave. The
entire complex contains several acres of
tunnels. Anyone desiring burial here
must agree to donate all his writings
and items of magic to the Tower. Then
he may choose his final resting place
from the extensive catacombs. Only the
Master can grant the right to interment
in the main crypt.
The Dungeon
Unruly guests find themselves cooling
their heels in small dungeon cells
carved from the bedrock far beneath
the Tower. Like the rest of the Tower,
the walls here are impervious to harm.
Unlike the rest of the structure, however, summoning magic cannot transport a prisoner out. (See the sidebar
titled "Magic and the Tower" starting
on page 32.)
One strange thing is that the
dungeon cells have no doors. In fact,
there is no physical access to the entire
dungeon area-the only way in or out
is through magic, and will of the
Tower itself.
The lack of doors is not the only
feature that makes these dungeons differ from cells in normal fortresses. The
Tower is, after all, a bastion of magic.
Chapter Two of Adventures in Magic
details the various sorcery-inspired
experiences that prisoners might
undergo during their stay in the
dungeons.
Foretower and Rear Tower
The Master expects visitors to enter his
domain through the foretower, a four-story just beyond the main gate. The
equally tall rear tower contains a back
door leading into the Tower's small
grove and herb garden. Upper floors
contain the Tower's kitchen facilities
and a scriptorium. The resident sorcerers keep these two small towers spotless.
Front Entry
The plain wooden door leading into
the Tower's front entry opens by itself
when someone approaches. Inside the
foretower, a visitor finds a windowless
room with a door leading out to each
of the great towers. Smokeless torches
provide nickering light enough to
reveal a row of hard, straight-backed
chairs standing opposite the entry. A
look around reveals only a fifteen-foot
ceiling and a wooden stand bearing a
well-thumbed book.
The torches look like fresh pine
branches in bronze holders set into the
wall. In reality, the torches and holders
are one-piece bronze castings; the
torches have been enameled to look
like pine. They burn with a flame that
makes no heat or smoke and never
goes out. As these torches are part of
the Tower, visitors cannot remove or
destroy them. The heatless flame cannot harm or set fire to anything.
At least one Tower resident remains
on duty here at all hours. An aging sorcerer named Grevasse (human elder
male, eccentric demeanor, Master) usually fills the post. (See Adventures in
Magic, Chapter One, for a description.)
The Guest Book
The book mentioned above is a magical device that the wizards who built
the Tower created to facilitate communications inside. This guest book magically records the full name of anyone
entering the Tower, showing the day
and time of arrival. The name entered
in the book is the name the visitor would give if asked to identify himself,
so someone using an alias finds that the
book records the false name, not the
actual name. When a person leaves the
Tower, his name fades from the page.
The writing in the book at first
seems indecipherable, but the proper
mental command allows anyone with a
Reason code of "A" to read the names.
Without the proper command, no one
can read the book, even with a divination spell. Only the Master, residents,
and frequent visitors such as Palin
know this command, but no one but
the Master will give it out.
A second command allows the
reader to mentally contact anyone
whose name is recorded and ask up to
three questions. The person contacted
has no special obligation to answer,
and the reader can contact any particular person only once each hour.
If the person contacted chooses to
answer a question, his reply appears in
the book, then fades after five minutes.
Should someone remove the book
from the Tower, the book goes blank
and doesn't function until returned.
Rear Entry
windowless rear entry usually
stands empty; it serves merely as a
back door into the Tower for residents.
The torches in this chamber resemble
those in the foretower's entry but generally go unlit; only when a veteran of
a Test of High Sorcery enters the
chamber do they magically light up.
On occasions when a member of
the Conclave has died, his body lies in
state here until the funeral rite in the
crypts below the Tower. At such times,
the torches remain continuously lit
until the residents have removed the
body for burial.
A spiral staircase leads from this
entry chamber down to the crypts; as a
matter of custom, coffins are not carried down the stairs, but transported
magically. The stairs merely provide a
mundane alternative for individuals to
reach the crypts.
Viewing Areas
Unlighted, windowless viewing areas on
the second floor usually stand empty.
Alcoves along the south wall contain
magical panels of stone that become
transparent when the Master so commands. From here, people can look
through the clear panels and watch the
activity in the Hall of Mages below.
When viewed from the Hall of
Mages, the panels always seem opaque,
so that no activity in the viewing area
can disturb those in the hall below.
Note: Looking at a subject through
one of the viewing panels does not
qualify as seeing it with normal sight
for purposes of spellcasting (see "Magic
and the Tower," page 32). Looking
through the panels actually uses magical sight, not normal sight.
Scriptorium
The scriptorium on the third floor of
the two smaller central towers serves as
a work and study area for Tower residents. Niches in the outer walls hold writing desks, with windows in the
niches providing ample light for sorcerers to copy books from the library
in the south tower or compose works
of their own. (Similar niches in the
outer walls of the main towers at this
level also hold desks. Storerooms in the
north tower adjacent to the scriptorium hold writing supplies.)
In the Fourth Age and earlier, these
desks were occupied from dawn until
dusk every day as wizards copied spells.
These days, residents spend comparatively little time here, as modern-day
sorcerers need no formal spellbooks to
cast their magic. Still, a few enterprising sorcerers endeavor to fix some of
their spells into written form. Others
work to preserve the old magical
lore - either out of respect for the past
or hope for the future.
Because these central chambers are
sunny and pleasant during the day, they
also serve as residents' favorite place to
read or just relax. A visitor here seldom
hears a noise louder than a whisper or a
quill scratching at parchment.
Kitchen
The residents prepare all their food in a
small kitchen on the fourth floor of the
rear tower. The Tower at Wayreth contains no central dining hall; the residents either retire to their room to take
their meals or eat off trays wherever
they happen to be working. Consequently, the kitchen stays busy about
eighteen hours a day.
The kitchen staff uses a big central
fireplace to do the cooking. The brickwork contains several ovens, and a veritable forest of spits and hooks hangs
over the open flames. The staff feeds
the hearth-fire from a supply of firewood stacked beneath a great round
work table. A big set of shelves along
one wall holds utensils and supplies.
Two hard, straight chairs - the only
other kitchen furnishings - allow the
staff to sit down for an occasional rest.
The Head Cook
Olon, an aging minotaur with one broken horn, oversees most of the cooking for Tower residents. A small staff assists him with kitchen chores and
helps him serve the food.
Olon: Minotaur mature male, bel-
ligerent demeanor, Champion. Ag 5c,
Dx 5c, En SB, St 9B, Re 6c, Pe 5B,
Sp 7D, Pr 5c, Dmg +2 (improvised
weapon), Def -2 (leather).
Olon served on a minotaur privateer
for several years until he suffered a
broken left horn in a boarding. Among
minotaurs, a broken horn is a sign of
disgrace, and Olon's status rapidly
diminished. By the time he reached
middle age, the only job he could get at
sea was as a cook on a merchant ship.
The minotaur developed a talent
for cooking, though his shipmates
never appreciated his skill. Because of
his disfigurement, Olon found himself
fighting constant brawls with younger
minotaurs looking for someone to pick
on. One night shortly after the War of
the Lance, in the port of Kalaman,
Olon met the wizard Dunbar Mastersmate, who persuaded the minotaur to
join him on an expedition. When Dunbar became Head of the Order of
White Robes some years later, Olon
accompanied him to the Tower at Wayreth, where he served as the wizard's
personal chef and later as the head
cook for the entire Tower.
Even after all these years, Olon is very
sensitive about his broken horn. If anyone asks about the injury or comments
on it, the minotaur's eyes burn with fury
and he replies, "What broken horn?"
Wise folks drop the subject immediately.
Fools who press the issue witness a
demonstration of Olon's strength, which
usually involves bending a fireplace
poker. The Tower whisks the offender
away before true violence can erupt.
Storeroom
A storeroom on the foretower's fourth
floor backs up against the brick fireplace of the kitchen in the rear tower.
This storage chamber holds bulk supplies and a large tub of water for cleaning. Tower residents magically empty
and refill the tub as necessary during
the day. Junior staff members assigned
to cleanup duty often experiment with
hydromancy and transmutation spells
to help with the job. Olon doesn't
mind, as long as the cleaning gets done.
Every so often, a spell goes spectacularly awry, leaving the storeroom
drenched with water or covered with
broken crockery. Olon simply fixes the
offender with his baleful gaze and
demands that the sorcerer clean up the
mess before the next morning. Usually,
the minotaur makes sure to mutter
something about "slow-roasted sorcerer"
or a similar threat as he stomps back to
the kitchen, just to make sure the
offender applies himself to the job.
He has never had to follow through
with a threat, because the residents
always pitch it to set things right. Nevertheless, the hapless sorcerer must
endure taunts from his fellows, including fictional accounts of what happened to the last poor fool who failed
to have things spic-and-span when
Olon came for his morning inspection.
The Master
The Tower of Wayreth has always been
sentient It was created to respond to the
will of the Conclave of Wizards, which
determined who would be admitted to
the Tower and who would not. In the
Fifth Age, those familiar with Tower lore
assume it retains some connection with
Krynn's sorcerers - a reasonable assumption, but not an entirely accurate one.
When the gods withdrew from
Krynn after the Chaos War, this sentient
Tower gained independent will. Whether
this transformation was a parting gift
from the gods of magic or a latent ability
that manifested itself in the absence of
the practice of High Sorcery, no one can
say for sure. The limits of the Tower's
intellect remain unrevealed. At the very
least, it can monitor and react to everything going on within its confines. It also
has limited awareness beyond its walls.
The Tower's intellect and magical
powers spring from its whole being; it
has no seat of intelligence - no "brain,"
so to speak. The Tower has an alter ego,
however, in the form of the Master of
the Tower. The two exist simultaneously, but form two different aspects of
the same entity. Where one is, the other
is also, though the Master is the more
mobile of the two aspects. When someone looks at the Master, he is actually
seeing the Tower itself. (See the Master's
entry in Chapter One of Adventures in
Magic for his physical description.)
Physiology
In most respects, the Master functions
as a normal human being, though he
does not need to eat and he never actually sleeps. The Master can eat, though,
and often joins Tower visitors in a meal
to help them feel at ease. He can feign
sleep as well, but if the Tower has no
need for its human aspect, the Master
just ceases to exist until needed again -
but no one ever sees him disappear.
Regardless of his amazing origin, the
Master is flesh and blood. He has all the
vulnerabilities any other living being has. However, if stain, incapacitated, or
subjugated to another's will (such as
through a mentalism spell), the Master
temporarily ceases to exist. When a
hostile force destroys him, he cannot
manifest himself again for one hour.
The Master has normal human
senses; he even enjoys acute hearing
and eyesight. Because he and the Tower
form two parts of one entity, he can see,
feel, hear, touch, and taste everything
happening there as though he were present in every area in the Tower simultaneously. When the Tower detects that
someone is attempting to locate it (see
page 16), the Master knows as well.
Though the Tower has limited mobility, the Master can move about Krynn
through either normal or magical
means, just like any powerful sorcerer.
Spellcasting
The Tower itself does not cast spells, but
the Master does. Unlike other sorcerers,
he can employ spells from any school of
sorcery. Further, he can ignore one of
sorcery's most significant limitations:
His spells can affect the living.
For example, his transmutation
spells can alter the forms of living
things (including his own form), and
his divination spells can reveal a creature's thoughts or feelings. The Master's
enchantment spells can improve a creature's abilities, and they also can place a
creature under the Master's control
(just as a mystic mentalism spell can).
The Master's identity as a creature of
High Sorcery, a relic from an earlier
age, also allows him to surpass normal
limits of range, duration, area of effect,
and spell effects that constrain other
sorcerers in the Fifth Age. If he wanted,
he could cast a spell with a permanent
duration, or one that affects all of western Ansalon. Because the Master represents an alternate aspect of the Tower,
the effective range of any spell he casts
is automatically reduced if the target or
subject lies within the Tower. (See
"Magic and the Tower," page 32.)
Forms of the Master
Another of the Master's abilities,
which has only begun to manifest
itself in the Fifth Age, hinges on the
little-known fact that a Test of High
Sorcery not only changes the Test-taker, it changes the Tower. Each Test-taker adds his indelible psychic
resonance to the very stone of this
bastion of magic. So intensely personal are the experiences of a Test,
they actually create an unbreakable
connection between the wizard taking it and the Tower itself.
This connection between wizard
and Tower allows the Master, once
each day, to magically assume the
form of anyone who has ever taken a
Test of High Sorcery. Not only does
he look and sound identical to his
subject, he instinctively adopts the
subject's mannerisms as well as his
very essence. While in the form of
another, the Master retains all his
own powers, but he also knows whatever the subject knew while alive.
When assuming the form of a living
person, the Master knows only what
his subject knew at the moment he
assumed the form.
The Master uses this ability to
help him handle the myriad problems he faces in the Fifth Age. For
instance, he might decide to use the
identity of diplomatic Justarius, former head of the Red Robes, to oversee a tricky negotiation. On the other
hand, taking on Raistlin's form and
thoughts would serve him well in
endeavors that require determination and craftiness.
The Master can remain in the new
form as long as he chooses - the
power lasts until he assumes a new
form. However, once he has assumed
someone's form through this power,
he cannot use the ability again for a
full day. This unique power does not
require the Master to cast a spell; he
simply wills a transformation to occur.
South Tower
Visitors find the Hall of Mages, on the
south tower's ground floor, absolutely
awe inspiring. In addition, this tower's
extensive, five-level library is the envy
of sorcerers throughout the land.
Hall of Mages
With a diameter of forty-five feet and a
domed ceiling even higher, the Hall of
Mages is the largest chamber in the
central towers. A permanent magical
effect in the air high above the floor
sheds a cold, white light - utterly
unnatural and completely cheerless -
over the chamber. Rather than filling
the whole room, this eerie illumination
leaves the black ceiling and walls
draped in heavy shadows, making the
chamber appear even larger than it
really is. The room's edges seem as distant as the horizon at twilight.
One cannot stumble into the hall by
accident or enter uninvited; visitors
who try find themselves in the fore-tower instead. Anyone who has passed a Test of High Sorcery can enter the
hall freely through the door on the
chamber's north side - unless the
Master wishes to keep him out.
The Conclave of Wizards met in the
Hall of Mages for nearly three thousand years, until the organization disbanded in 28sc. The wizards also used
the chamber for holding regular meetings, deliberating matters of interest to
the Conclave, and for any occasion in
which they wished to deal with outsiders in a suitably impressive setting.
These days, the Hall of Mages is seldom used, except when the Master
wishes to address the whole Tower
community or grant an audience to a
large group, such as visiting students
from the Academy of Sorcery.
The chamber usually contains nothing except twenty-one comfortable
chairs reserved for members of the
Conclave. (People appearing before the
Conclave were expected to stand.)
Twenty of the chairs, fashioned from
hardwood darkened with age, form a
semicircle around the south end of the room. The twenty-first chair is carved
from a massive block of gray marble
shot through with veins of red, white,
and black. This chair, placed in the
center of the hall, was reserved for the
Head of the Conclave.
By general agreement, only Palin
Majere (as the last holder of that
office) or the Master of the Tower may
take this seat now. Visitors who break
this rule find themselves making an
undignified tumble onto the floor at
the north side of the chamber. The
chair's usual central position places it in
the brightest spot in the chamber; a
viewer standing in the hall's north end
would see anyone sitting in the stone
chair wreathed in pale light, with the
people in the other chairs wrapped in
faint shadows, and the walls beyond lost
in darkness. Most viewers find the
effect quite startling.
Library
The five levels in the south tower
immediately above the Hall of Mages
comprise the Tower's library. Although
each of these floors holds a different
room, the poster map illustrates only
the largest of the five, located on the
fifth floor.
The library's shelves contain books
of spells, magical scrolls, and notes on
various arcane processes. Veterans of
the Test of High Sorcery may freely
browse the shelves and carry items
down to the scriptorium for study, as
long as they tell the librarian on duty
what they're taking and when they will
return it. No one may remove a book
from the Tower proper without the
Master's permission. Book thieves get a
trip to the dungeon for their troubles.
North Tower
The north tower's entire ground floor
serves as a repository for records going
back at least as far as the first Cata-
clysm. Its upper floors hold storage
chambers, the Master's study, and
residential areas.
Records Wing
No arcane documents are kept in the
records wing - magical writings, such as
spellbooks, occupy the Tower's library.
The records wing holds supply inventories, personal diaries, lists of those taking Tests of High Sorcery (including
the Test date and outcome), minutes of
Conclave meetings, and the like. Visitors can find an incomplete index of
the records stored here in the library.
The wing contains three records
rooms: one to the east, one to the
north, and one to the west. The corridor connecting these chambers boasts
torches like those in the rear tower and
foretower, but they remain unlit unless
a person who has passed a Test of High
Sorcery walks by. The residents manage
to keep the corridor clean, but thick
dust coats everything in the records
rooms, and the musty scent of ancient
dust and crumbling parchment hangs
heavy in the air. A magical lighting
effect similar to the one in the Hall of
Mages provides illumination inside
each of the records rooms.
West and North Rooms
The Conclave had a system of sorts for
organizing its records, but new documents kept crowding out the old,
resulting in something of a jumble.
The west room contains the newest
records: The most recently stored documents are placed in three shelves left
of the door. When these fill up, record-keepers clear them out and pile the
boxes of documents on the other
shelves in the west room or move them
to the north room, the repository of
Wayreth's older materials.
Anything too old or damaged to be
easily read, the record-keepers take to
the head librarian for restoration. In
order to make room for new documents, the sorcerers resort to magical
storage tactics, such as shrinking many
boxes of the more unexciting records
kept in this wing. One trait most of the
Tower's residents seem to share is a great
reluctance to throw anything away.
East Room
The east room contains records moved
from other Towers of High Sorcery
during the siege on magic in the time
of Istar. A resident team of historians
keeps busy compiling a history based
on these documents, but their main
emphasis is on putting together a complete record of Conclave members
throughout the ages. They forward
most of the records to other historians
once they've finished with them.
Washing Areas
Tower residents do all their bathing and
washing in chambers like the washing
area on the north tower's second floor.
These rooms, scattered throughout the
central towers, have ceramic tile floors.
Braziers full of hot coals warm the air
for the comfort of bathers. Sorcerers
magically empty the wash water from
tubs and replace it as needed. Benches
provide places for residents to lay out
clothing to be washed or to sit and dry
off after a bath. Magical light illuminates each washing chamber.
Jaclyn's Suite
The Tower's senior residents enjoy
quarters such as Jaclyn's suite on the
north tower's ninth floor.
When not hard at work, the Tower's
head librarian, Jaclyn (human elder
female, resolute demeanor, Master),
spends most of her time in her comfortable pair of rooms. This venerable
woman's passion for magical items
created before the Fifth Age has led her
to spend decades studying the numerous enchanted objects stored in the
Tower and collecting descriptions of
items she has not examined herself.
(Her life's work, a tome describing
items of magic made before the Second Cataclysm, is excerpted in Chapter Four. A physical description of
Jaclyn appears in Chapter One of
Adventures in Magic.)
Jaclyn's writings are crisp and tidy, but
her laboratory shows the kind of clutter
only a dedicated eccentric can create.
Unwashed dishes, hastily scrawled notes,
dull quills, and stray volumes carpet the
room like autumn leaves.
This sorceress has an unusual work
table shaped something like the letter
"C," which gives her ample room to
work and lets her keep more things
within reach. Unfortunately, the
room's general clutter has invaded the
table, but Jaclyn always keeps a fairly
clear space at one end for drafts of her
book and one or two magical items on
loan from the Master. Jaclyn keeps
bookbinding tools and supplies at the
table's other end: glue, hammers,
assorted knives, two vises, cords and
needles, leather for book covers, and a
binding press (a wooden frame strung
with cords for making bindings).
A suit of Solamnic armor of
renown (see the Book of the Fifth Age,
Chapter Five) stands next to Jaclyn's
desk. She intends to study its magical
properties someday, but she hasn't
quite decided how to apply her usual
methods to it - normally she likes to
test an item by actually employing it as
it was intended to be used. However,
the elderly librarian has no desire to
"play knight" against a real foe.
Jaclyn's sleeping room features a
canopied bed, an expensive woolen
rug, and three chests full of esoteric
items she has acquired over the years.
The sorceress owns several ancient
weapons of ogre manufacture, a set of
clay pots dating back to the Time of
Light, and other objects that might be
of interest to collectors and historians.
She also owns several items of
magic, including a wand of pyromancy, boots of the south, a night-jewel, and several pieces of cursed
money (see Chapter Four). As Jaclyn
regards these items as precious historical relics, she usually keeps them
locked in her room, where they remain
protected and preserved.
Guest Rooms
Visitors to the Tower enjoy accommodations in the middle floors of the north
tower during their stays. Each guest room
contains a comfortable bed and often a
writing table, an armchair, and a chest or
closet for storing equipment.
Sleeping Rooms
Also in the north tower are sleeping
rooms for junior residents. Each
chamber has a cot and a straight-backed chair.
The Master's Study
A two-room suite on the north tower's
second floor has traditionally been
reserved for the Head of the Conclave.
However, it has lain mostly unused
since Par-Salian of the White Robes
retired late in the Fourth Age.
Par-Salian's successor, the Red-Robed
mage Justarius, chose to spend most
of his time at his mansion in Palanthas
and his successor, Dalamar of the
Black Robes, preferred to conduct
his business from the Tower of High
Sorcery in Palanthas.
These days, the room is used as the
Master's study, where that unique
character generally meets visitors to
the Tower. Drawing from Par-Salian's
example, he always has a cheery fire
burning in the hearth and a plate of
cookies, fresh from the kitchen, ready
on his desk when he entertains guests.
The fire and the room's two windows brighten up the study considerably. At night, the Master lights
candles to give the room a soft glow.
The light makes a pleasant contrast to
the dim corridor outside, where the
only source of illumination is moonlight spilling through a single window
at the north end.
The study's desk contains an odd
assortment of items previous occupants have left behind, but nothing
particularly valuable or unusual. The
Master does keep a personal journal - short notes about his daily affairs - which he stores in the desk along with a
few quills and ink pots.
The attached sleeping room goes
unused, as the Master doesn't actually
sleep. Two wardrobes against one wall
contain some clothing the Master's
predecessors left behind. In addition,
the wardrobe on the right serves as a
portal. Anyone who steps inside and deliberately walks through the back
appears wherever he wished to go in
the Tower, provided he has seen the
area at least once. If the traveler doesn't specify a location, he winds up in
the corridor outside the study. The
wizards of the Conclave placed the
enchanted wardrobe here long ago to
allow their leader speedy access to any
chamber in the Tower.
Palin's Laboratory
The Master has set aside the hexagonal
chamber at the very top of the north
tower as Palin Majere's laboratory - the
same room Par-Salian used while he
headed the Conclave. The honor was
not lost on Palin, for the view of Way -
reth Forest from the east balcony of
this chamber is among the most spectacular in the whole Tower.
The chamber remains much the
same as it was in that White-Robed
elder's time, as his successors preferred to use their own laboratories.
Palin has not changed it much except
to add a coal-fire furnace, which he used in his early pyromantic experiments. The shelves, desk and tables
are much as Par-Salian left them,
though Palin has scattered a few of
his own notes and books here and
there. The gallery surrounding the
laboratory provides an excellent place
for the contemplative sorcerer to
stroll and think.
Other Areas
The vast central towers contain many
more chambers beyond the handful of
rooms described in this chapter. Some
of these locales include:
- Shrines to Krynn's departed gods,
especially the three gods of magic;
- Classrooms and workshops;
- Additional laboratories;
- More sleeping rooms and guest
quarters;
- Strong rooms filled with magical
treasures;
- An infirmary; and
- Just about any other chamber the
Narrator might care to include!
Magic and the Tower
The Tower at Wayreth, as the greatest
concentration of magic on the face of
Ansalon, offers various boons to those
using sorcery within its bounds. However, the Tower's existence outside of normal space has some unusual effects on
spell ranges - for the Master, other sorcerers, and even mystics and users of
magical items.
Bonus to Sorcery
The magic embuing the Tower gives a
boost to any sorcerous spell cast within it.
Sorcerers receive a +5 action bonus when
casting in the Tower, as well as up to 5
sorcery points for the spell. If the caster
has completed a Test of High Sorcery, he
receives a +10 action bonus and up to 10
sorcery points. No matter how simple the
spell, casters must always expend at least
1 sorcery point of their own.
The Master's Spells
Because the Master and the Tower represent different aspects of the same entity,
any spell he casts at someone or something
within the Tower is at personal range, no
matter where he is. As the Master is aware
of everything and everyone inside the
Tower, he can target a spell anywhere easily.
Anything within the Tower effectively
becomes part of his body, for determining
the range of his spells, since he and the
Tower are one and the same.
However, if the Master becomes the
subject or target of a spell or magical
effect, the range is the same as if he were
any other being - a hero cannot cast a personal-range spell upon the Master merely
by touching the wall of the Tower, for
instance. This contradiction results from
the Master's unique state of being and the
Tower's pervading defensive nature.
When directing spells at targets that lie
outside the Tower, the Master has to deal
with the same limitations as every other
sorcerer. (Of course, distance remains
utterly under his control within the forest.)
Other Spells and Effects
In a place where a visitor could literally
walk though the front door at ground
level and enter an upper chamber with
the next step, or find himself walking in
an endlessly repeating loop, casting spells
can be difficult.
The "See or Touch" Rule
Without touching or seeing the target of
his spell, a spellcaster inside the Tower or
guardian forest has no idea where it is,
thanks to the Tower's ability to alter reality.
To direct a spell at something or
someone - inside the Tower or out - a
caster must be able to see with his normal
vision or physically touch his target. Usually, this forces the caster to stay in the
same chamber, hallway, or clearing as the
spell subject, or at most in an adjacent
area. Within these limits, all normal rules
for spell ranges apply. This restriction
applies to the effects of items of magic as
well as spells,
For example, someone cannot cast a
spell that affects the landing at the top of
one of the Tower's curving staircases
unless he can actually see the landing. In
a normal building, someone could infer
the target's location and cast his spell successfully. But within this transdimensional structure, he can never be certain.
Likewise, spells and magical effects
cannot be directed into the Tower from
the outside unless the caster can actually
see the target with normal sight. For
example, if the Shadow Sorcerer stood
outside the main gate, he could cast a
spell at someone standing in the courtyard. However, he could not direct a spell
at someone inside one of the Tower's
chambers, unless that person were standing at a window, easily seen. The spell's
range is otherwise calculated normally.
Any kind of spell can be cast from the
Tower at someone (or something) outside, as long as the caster can see the subject from the courtyard or a window. In
the latter case, the Narrator and the
player should determine the spell range
based on the physical distance between the caster and his target. For example, if
Palin Majere sees someone moving
through the forest from a window outside his laboratory, the figure is at far
missile range. If the individual were
hovering right outside the window, he
would be at melee range from Palin.
Any target beyond the guardian forest
is outside of spell range in most cases.
Transport Magic
Summoning spells and similar effects
that transport the user from place to
place are an exception to the above limits. As long as the caster has seen his
destination even once, he can use summoning magic to move around in the
Tower, taking companions along if he
wishes. The caster cannot summon
individuals he cannot see, however - he
doesn't know where they are.
Magic from the summoning school
cast from outside the Tower will transport an individual to the foretower, but
only if he has passed a Test of High Sorcery. (The range difficulty modifier for
any such spell is 5 points.) But, no matter how well he knows the Tower, he
cannot choose any other area within it
as his destination.
The Master ignores such limitations,
however. Not only can he magically
transport himself from outside the
Tower to any location within it, all such
spells function at personal range - in
effect, he is already there.
Divination and Sensivity
As noted previously in the "Concealment" section, the Tower defeats divination or sensitivity effects created outside
its walls. However, these effects can
work when cast inside the Tower.
If directed at the Tower itself, a divination or sensitivity effect reveals nothing. If directed at the its furnishings or
occupants, the spell can work (as long as
the caster can see or touch the subject, as
described above). Like the rest of the
Tower, however, the magical guest book
kept in the foretower is impervious to
magical effects and any type of harm.
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