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Friday, February 5, 2010

The Spire of Frozen Dreams

In the bitterly cold Northlands, atop a range of ice-covered mountains a slender needle-like tower rises from the shoulder of a frozen peak. The Spire of Dreams is an unnaturally tall and slender tower made from some unknown silvery metal, rising over 200 feet above the rocky outcropping that serves as its foundation. A narrow, rail-less metal stair winds around the tower's 15 foot wide shaft, eventually leading up into the bulbous chamber that sprouts from its top like a marshmallow stuck on a giant's skewer. Though it appears to be fully enclosed from the outside, some illusion magic fills the interior of the room with an endless vista of star-filled night skies.

Legend says the Spire is a magical place, capable of revealing the path to one's true desire to anyone who dares spend a full night alone in its chill upper reaches. Few dare the bitter wastelands that surround the Spire, fewer still brave the thousand steps that lead to its icy heart.

The Spire is the relic of a long abandoned deity worshiped by a forgotten race of men. It served as a coming of age ritual, a rite of passage that determined the individual's future role in society. The Spire is an artifact imbued with Legendary divination magic. Any individual that spends a night alone in the tower is granted a vision of the path to their heart's desire. The vision is a two-edged sword however, because it is accompanied by a compulsion to seek out the vision granted. This compulsion is extremely subtle in effect, but potent in implementation, requiring a Legendary test of divination to detect and a similar test of dispelling to remove.

Each individual may experience the effects of the Spire but once, receiving a vision permanently changes the affected person so the tower will never again work for them.