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So many spoilers, so little time... eating away at the mouseover text...
OK. Here we go. The Black Tower, as written, dissatisfies me. Why is it just one little room underground? If the Scrolls of the Peacock Spirit were important enough to be guarded by a mummy, why weren't they in the library, guarded by the Shining Child? Why is the password to the library in the scrolls? Etc.
One of my players (my girlfriend, incidentally) is very interested in the Black Tower, and now that Mokmurian's death means that all of the giants are rapidly evacuating Jorgenfist, she's eager to explore it. And so I've decided to flesh it out.
This is, incidentally, somewhat inspired by Jodah's use of a skull ripper in Skull's Crossing that he posted about in another thread.
The top room of the Black Tower, as written, will be encrusted in ice, but faintly visible through the ice are relief carvings along the wall. Seven of them. Scraping off the ice will reveal the following, with captions in Thassilonian script:
Panel 1 - A flamboyantly dressed young man backed by a horde of servants, greeted by three wizened old men.
"The Runelord of Cyrusian sent his favorite nephew to learn the ways of the Peacock Spirit from the wise men of the Therassic Monastery. He was accompanied by his five hundred and seventy three servants."
Panel 2 - The same young man, in a library. The three old men stand behind a pedestal bearing a strange cylinder.
"The young prince was taught by the monks in the ways of battle and was allowed access to their great library. He was forbade, however, the Thirty-Six Curses of the Peacock Spirit. Only one without fear, the monks said, could gaze upon the Curses and live."
Panel 3 - The same library, empty save for the young man. The cylinder has been opened, and the young man falls backwards, his hands raised. A green light emanates from the cylinder.
"The prince, knowing himself without fear, sneaked into the library one night to view the Thirty-Six Curses. But the young prince's pride was greater than his bravery, and he was slain."
Panel 4 - A fantastically handsome man holding a lucerne hammer sits on a throne, pointing and gazing at a robed, corpulent man with a cadaverous face.
"The Runelord, upon hearing the news, commanded a gluttonsmith of Gastath to attend to his fallen nephew's last rites."
Panel 5 - The corpulent man and the three monks toil over the young man's body, while a dozen servants build a sculpture resembling a scorpion crafted out of bones.
"The gluttonsmith aided the Therassic Monks in preparing the body, and constructed a tomb guardian, so that the young prince's final resting place would never be desecrated."
Panel 6 - An opulent tomb scene, with the young man's body wrapped in bandages and clutching the cylinder from Panel 2. He is surrounded by dozens of servants, and the sculpture of the scorpion stands in the background.
"The prince was interred in the belltower, with his guardian and his servants, as was the custom for a Cyrusian noble. The Thirty-Six Curses of the Peacock Spirit were buried with him, so as they would never again tempt a wayward acolyte with their dangerous knowledge."
Panel 7 - The corpse of the young man rises, smiling, as the scorpion sculpture, now animate, tears apart the servants.
"But the Runelord never learned that the monks had bribed the Gluttonsmith, who had animated the young prince as the undead for his foolishness. When the prince's servants reached the afterlife, they would find no lord waiting for them."
The room below would be replaced, of course, with a tomb; a golden sarcophagous, sculptures of beautiful women and piles of gold and jewels. All of these would be the result of a permanent image spell. The Black Monk, being the animate remains of the prince, would not be, and neither would the skull ripper in attendance.
The Thirty-Six Curses, and the scrolls with them, would be rather more dangerous. Reading the Curses would trigger a heightened phantasmal killer spell (DC 23); if one survived, one could gain the benefits. Reading the Thirty-Six Curses of the Peacock Spirit would allow one to use the options from the "Bestowed Curses" article in Dragon 348.
What do you think, sirs?
I think this is great, thanks!!!