Locations/ManseTwo

The Tower in the Mountain

Manse 5\\ Air Aspected\\

Hearthstone

Gem of Sapphire and Emerald.\\

Description

The Manse is a tower nearly twenty stories tall, though it does not stand on it's own. It's built into the side of a cliff and only about half the tower is visible as if it were emerging from the mountain. The exposed part of the Tower faces the west, allowing the light of the setting sun to filter into the windows. The walls are dark grey stone and the outside walls are covered in bas reliefs depicting dragons in flight. There are several circular windows on the walls. The windows appear to have been carved out of the walls and outlines of dragons or other representations of the element of Air were left in the window space. These stone outlines prevent anything larger that a small bird from entering.

At the top of the tower a stone walkway only a few yards wide sticks out about 100 feet into the open air. Someone standing out as the furthest point would be completely touched by the nothern winds exept for the soles of his feet. The walkway would also make an excellent drop off point for people or supplies who had come in by air.

There are two entrances to the manse. One on the top, which lets those inside onto the roof to they can access the walkway to commune with the wind. This entrance is a stone trap door that blends into the rest of the top of the tower perfectly. The door locks from the inside, and is unlockable from the outside through use of a fogotten command word. When the command word is spoken properly, the door unlocks and opens itself.(Perception + Awareness Diff. 5 to spot. The door is specifically protected against charms and other supernatural sensory abilities. This is because the room with the hearstone is the top room of the tower and it's to prevent any opposing force from simply flying in and taking the manse. Charms such as Lock-Opening Touch or Door Evading Technique still function as normal, however.)

The second entrance is nearly half a mile away and is hidden within the cliff face, though not so well as the trap door. (Perception + Awareness, difficulty 3 to spot.) The cave is open but if built in such a way that those looking at it might not recognize it as anything apart from the rest of the rock. While ehe manse has several enchantments on it preventing anything from tunneling in and breaking the wall of the Manse, the tunnel to the manse has no such enchantments, and the current inhabitants of the Manse have built more tunnels to confuse unwary travellers and to house themselves.\\

History

The Tower in the Mountain was built during the Solar's reign in the First Age by a paranoid sorcerer who had greatly given in to the Great Curse. It was built in such a way that people would suspect that it was a devout Air aspected Dragon-Blooded who had commisioned it's construction so that people might underestimate the power of the Twilight sorcerer who lived there. He built the manse to purposely produce the Gem of Sapphire and Emerald in hopes of protecting himself from the mind-ensnaring spells of other sorcerers. The only retainers who he allowed into the manse were those under the effect of his Three-fold Binding of the Heart.

As he went more and more mad he eventually stopped replacing his retainers as they died. He buried them in the tunnel leading to the manse and performed rituals to make sure their ghosts were quiet as long as their graves lay undisturbed. During the Usurpation he used his most powerful sorceries to hide himself from those who searched his manse. The hearthstone rendered him immune to the spells they were using to find him. He died, alone and scared in the upper rooms of the manse, and his ghost still haunts the topmost rooms.\\

The Tower Today

The lower entrance to the tower was found nearly two centuries ago by the fair folk noble Illustrious Bladeweaver. He managed to work his way though the catacombs to the manse, find his way to the upper levels, and attune to it. He currently holds the hearthstone. Shortly after finding the manse he moved some craftsman in to furnish his new home. He allowed the commoners to build new tunnels in the catacombs. This undertaking eventually disturbed some of the dead there and they rose to defend their resting places. The ensuing chaos disturbed even more of the dead, and many of the commoners lost their lives. The commoners residing in the manse now inhabit the first floor, rather than live in the cave. They also only enter or exit through the catacombs during the day while the ghosts rest. And all the while the spirit of the old Solar watches and waits for the right moment to banish the intruders from his home.

Since establishing his powerbase, Illustrious Bladeweaver has become a serious thorn in the side of the Hslanti League. He makes regular raids on any ground based movement he can reach and has beguiled spies in nearby cities to alert him of any movements. The Hslanti are uncertain how to deal with the tower. The two airships they've sent were crashed by fairy magics, and laying siege to the tower would cost substantially more resources than it has been to just switch all the transportation through the area to airship. Occultists in the area say that spirits refuse to help because they claim something dark and ancient lives there, and any special ground force is moot anyway because they don't know where the lower entrance is, or even if there is one. The response so far has been to post a reward for any who manage to deal with the situation in hope of drawing some Outcaste mercenary champions. Those few who have responded so far have been fatally unsuccessful.

Successfully clearing out the infestation would garner the characters a substantial amount of resources, or instead, possibly a very small airboat if that's what the characters are after.\\

The Journey to the Tower

The Tower in the Mountain is a rough and rocky one. The paths to it from Whitewall that existed in centuries past are mere memories. Landslides and other natural disasters have altered the terrain enough that anyone trying to use knowledge more than a few centuries old is more likely to get the group lost than anything else. The Hslanti have a vague idea where it is, but as they managed to locate it only by airboat and none from the two airboats that assaulted the tower survived, their information is sketchy as best. They know enough to point the characters in the general direction, but little else.

The journey is frought with peril. Sudden falls, loose rocks, deep chasms, and wandering Fey all pose threats to any approaching circle. If the circle has any means of travel by air, the time the trip takes will be shortened considerably, though exposure to the cold and the wind will still be an issue, as will the fact that it will be harder for the characters to hide their approach from the Fey in the tower.

The journey on foot takes anywhere from three to four weeks, depending on the progress the characters make and how easily they can aviod the area's natural threats. Without proper survival gear the characters need to make three successes on a survival roll to withstand taking penalties from the cold. These penalties stay with the character until he's had at least an hour or two of good warmth. With proper survival gear, the required successes drop to one. The Storyteller should include encounters with very dangerous terrain, and depending on the season, dangerous weather effects as well, possibly raising survival difficulties for the dead of winter and so on.

Food is another issue as well. The region is very, very bare an rocky with very little game. A survival roll, diffuculty 2 is required to find enough food for a character for a day. Not only does the foraging take a couple hours, it also largely consists of insects adapted to cold climates and the tough, if edible, roots of scrub plants. Characters with more delicate tastes will need to roll at least 4 successes to turn up such game as snow hares and other, less rugged meals.

If the characters choose to bring pack animals their journey will be slowed considerably as they have to carefully lead the beasts through the rocks, snow, and ravines. Add at least two weeks to the journey time. However, if well stocked enough this will negate the need to search for food.

While there are no guides in Whitewall that know the way to the Tower, the characters can hire a survival expert to come with them if they wish. He would have knowledge for proper gear to bring and how to look for food. Assume a die pool of 6 dice to all survival rolls, and at least 4 dice to athletics checks that involve climbing trees or cliffs. Due to the danger involved in the trip these services will cost the circle at least Resources 3.

About a week out from the manse, the characters also have a chance of running into Illustrious Bladeweaver and his commoner warriors. Illustrious Bladeweaver himself only leaves the manse to assault the road during full moons, though by no means every full moon. The commoners go out on patrol every shifting of the lunar phase. Around the middle of the waxing of waning cycle when the moon goes from gibbous, to half, to crescent, or in reverse order, the characters are more likely to encounter a patrol of anywhere between 10 - 20 commoners. Use the statistics for Hobgoblins in the main book.\\

Finding a Way In

Once the characters make it to the Tower, and assuming they haven't been spotted and aren't under attack by the fey,(Dex+Stealth, diff. 3.)they now have to find a way in. As mentioned earlier, the door in the cliff face requires only 3 successes to find, though it is a mile away down the cliff face. Characters who haven't been spotted and who choose to observe the movements of the fair folk can figure out how they enter and leave the Tower fairly easily. Though they should perhaps be more cautious, the fey don't believe anyone would be able to make it to the Tower without being caught or killed and so don't bother to hide their comings and goings. If any patrols have gone by in the last day or so, the characters might be able to use the patrol's tracks to locate the entrance to the manse.

Particularly observant characters may pick up on the fact that, if the commoners manage to make it back during the night, they don't go into the cave before dawn. If the commoners are outside at dusk, they choose to weather the night outside rather than risk going in and getting caught in the caves as night falls. If the characters time everything right, they may even see the fey noble himself leave the manse during the day to go off on his hunt. He remains gone with a large contingent of his commoners for all three night of the full moon, returning during the day after that.

Getting in the top entrance is substantially more difficult, though not out of the question. If the characters manage to get to the top of the manse without being spotted,(Dex+Stealth, diff. 5.) they may then have a chance to find the secret door on top. (Perception+Awareness or Investigation diff. 5, unaidable by charms.) Only the ghost of the Solar and Illustrious Bladeweaver know the command word to unlock the door from the outside, so the circle will either have to use appropriate charms, break through forcibly,(the door has the statistics of a stone wall, and breaking it does not damage the manse, though it will alert anyone in the upper levels to the circle's presence.) or attept to pick the lock.

Picking the lock requires a long, flexible wire of some sort. Without that, any mundane attempts are impossible. It's an extended Dexterity+Larceny roll with every roll at difficulty 5. Every roll takes about 30 minutes of time, and the character picking the lock needs to achieve at least 25 successes to unlock the door. Botching any roll along the way resets accumulated success to zero and may alert those in the upper level to what's going on. Failing merely doesn't generate any successes for that roll, however failing more than a couple times in a row will also reset the accumulated successes to zero.

Once the lock is picked, the characters then have to somehow lift the door which has no handles or other means of lifting it. Standard climbing gear has the tools to easily generate the leverage needed, though a simple Dex+Stealth roll is required to do so quietly.

The Catacombs

The catacombs originally went straight to the manse. Now, after the fair folk excavation, there are many wrong turns that lead into dead-end rooms. Nearly a hundred centuries-old hungry ghosts are bound into the corridor, though currently only thrity or so were made active by the fair folk meddling. The old tunnel runs in a gently winding pattern making it's way toward the manse. The walls of the tunnel have open resting places for the dead, stacked two high, on either side of the tunnel for most of it's length. The tunnel is wide enough for three people to walk side-by-side, though if a bit uncomfortably.

Anyone not careful enough to aviod the wall might accidentally disturb the dead. Indeed it may seem like the catacombs were designed to be a large trap. Despite the cliff being solid, sturdy rock, the resting places of the dead are quite fragile. Anyone pushed or forcibly knocked into the walls hard enough to take more than a couple dice(not levels) of bashing damage, crumbles right through the rock disturbing at least two of the bodies there. The ghosts bound into them rise the next night to haunt the tunnel with the others.

There are about half a dozen turns deeper into the cliff that lead back into what were going to be living quarters. Passages lead back and branch of into various rooms with seemly no sense of order. In one of the rooms in the far back are piled the remains of the thirty active hungry ghosts. The ones who tried to destroy the remains have long perished.

During the day in the catacombs the circle might encounter a commoner or two. Circles who capture one might be able to extract some information fron it. Particularly unlucky circles might even encounter a full force patrol leaving to go out into the surrounding area. The resulting conflict would more than likely just add to the hungry ghost problem at night.

Information gleaned from a captured commoner will give the characters simple knowledge of the layout of the bottom couple floors and knowledge that the noble lives in the upper levels. The commoner will also mention that everyone in the tower is active during the day, but that at night the lower entrance is unguarded, hoping to get the ghosts to take care of the circle. The commoners don't really know much else excepts the frequency of patrols.

Coming in at night is a bit more risky, though not seemingly so at first. The ghosts attack the characters en masse about a third of the way through the tunnel. Any bodies disturbed immediatly release the ghost within, who joins the fray. The sounds of combat may wake the sleeping fair folk on the bottom floor. The characters can attempt the sneak through the tunnel unnoticed.(contested Dex+Stealth v.s. the ghosts' highest combined Perception + Awareness.) The ghosts react to the Zenith anima ability as normal.

However, the ghosts aren't the smartest, and they do remember their master and what he was. Any Twilight Exalt who's anima banner reaches at least 4 or more peripheral motes in display will elicit another reaction from them. They will allow the Twilight and any who touch him to pass unharmed. The ghosts still hover around and snarl at the characters protected by the Twilight though, and the second contact is broken, the ghosts attack.

On the occasion that the circle goes in while Illustrious Bladeweaver is out, the end of the tunnel is closed off by a portcullis during the night. The protcullis will also be closed if the characters alert the fey to their presence in any way.

The Lower Levels

The manse, though 20 stories high, has only ten floors. Each of these floors has a very high ceiling allowing for tall statues and whatnot to be placed inside. Each floor is also a room unto itself; a large open, circular area. Most floors have pillars in them and in some places curtains of muslin or velvet have been hung as dividers to create some areas for privacy or personal space. The windows seen from the outside are high off the floors of the rooms, being where the next floor would be if they weren't two stories to a floor.

Centered between the windows and starting at the bottom level is a spiral staircase that runs the whole height of the tower. In the lower levels the trapdoors between the levels are open. Halfway up each room, the staircase branches off onto railed walkways that would allow in inhabitants to see out the windows into the distance.

The First and Second Floor

Originally the first two levels were used for storage. Now the decayed remains of large crates and their rotten contents have been removed to create living room for the commoners. The archway into the tunnel is in the center of the room opposite the windows. The archway has a simple portcullis to protect it, though it is only ever closed when Illustrious Bladeweaver is out on his raids. The commoners that stay behind believe they would have ample warning during the day to close it, but without the cataphract to protect them, they choose not to take their chances at night.

The rooms are scattered with the various personal belongings the commoners have, many of which were taken from the humans they manage to capture and bring back there. A few of the fey here have excellent crafting skills, and though they currently lack any gossamer, they have enough minor enchantments available to them to make their ice-carved furniture durable, lasting and comfortable. The strong essence flow of the manse keeps them from fading faster as well. The bottom floor is also where their weapons are stockpiled.

In the event of combat, the fey immediatly try to close the portcullis and sound a large bell back by the staircase. The commoners are caught between a rock and a hard place. On one hand the circle could pose a dire threat to their lives. On the other, they don't want to be forced to the upper levels. That would entail facing the displeasure of the Bladeweaver, or possibly having to go to the highest reaches of the tower.

If the circle came in from above, then they fey still fight them, though if obviously loosing they flee through the catacombs.

The Third Floor

The third floor was originally used for the various services of the manse. Here the kitchen and forge and other such things were located. Most of these have been removed and the floor as a whole is now something much more akin to a prison. The kitchen remains so that the prisoners can remain fed, though they don't generally enjoy eating.

Any people coaxed off the road are brought here, and there are generally four to five people there at any given time. They are kept naked to prevent them from having any means to do harm to themselves and others, and they are shackled at the hands. The fey put blankets over them to ward off the chill of the North. There's no point in wasting food, after all. The prisoner's existance is a hopeless one. No one will come to save them, and those who are reduced to soulless husks are never seen again. Occasionally, once in a rare while, something made of darkness and shadow decends from above to feed and screams of pain and death echo through the night.

Generally, the prisoners still here have at least an inkling of personality left as they haven't been ravaged enough to be sent to the ghosts on either side of the tower or out into the snow to die yet. While they may not be skilled, if provived weapons they will fight for their freedom. Death here is a grim certainty. Fighting provides something of a chance, not matter how incredibly small.

The keys to the shackles are kept by one of the commoners on the second floor. Illustrious Bladeweaver also has a set.

The Fourth and Fifth Floors

These are the levels the fae noble himself dwells in. Beautiful fae weapons hang on the walls, and the fifth floor has a throne made of steel. Also stored up here are the more valuable and pretty of the objects taken during their raids.