This ancient wizard's tower has been standing since before the destruction of the Archipelago. It was long ago inhabited by a very powerful enchanter that used his skills to transform his home into a safe haven in this dangerous void.

From a distance, it's a tall (500') lighthouse that's projecting a beam of darkness instead of light (light would be useless in the void, so he enchanted the light source to produce beams of shadow instead). The lighthouse is standing on a chunk of loose earth that seems to be bound together with a crude grid of iron bars. The tower itself is made of granite blocks, giving it a sparkling appearance in the bright light of the void.

The darkness projected can be seen from about a mile away from the tower.

The tower is surrounded by a Very High Mana Area.

The most likely way the PCs would encounter the tower is by finding the wizard's compass. It's also the only safe way, as the compass allows the defenses to be bypassed completely.

It's a gnome-designed compass, relatively small, but attached to a heavy (1/2 pound) meteoric iron chain that could easily fit around someone's neck. The compass is enchanted to be immune to the void's disintegration effect. The chain is naturally immune to this effect.

If the word “home” is spoken by the wearer of the compass while in the void, the needle will point in the direction of the tower as long as it's being looked at. Otherwise, it functions as a regular magnetic compass, with the needle spinning freely in the void.

The tower's defenses are formidable, as the enchanter learned to use and focus the void's disintegration effect. If anyone approaches within 200 feet of the tower, the darkness will point directly at the closest intruder and focus into a laser-like beam, which will cause 20d of damage that ignores DR (any armor in it's path will get a 1/2 inch hole in it). The tower attacks with a skill of 16 and the attack can be dodged.

Inside the tower is an iron golem made of meteoric iron. Theoretically, this should have been impossible, but the enchanter managed to animate the golem and then transform it into meteoric iron. This works because the lingering effect of the Golem spell isn't actually magical. It provides an animating force in the form of an elemental spirit, but the golem itself isn't usually magical. This golem is immune to all magic and is therefore safe in the void.

It has instructions to kill anyone that enters the tower, unless they're wearing the compass or are accompanied by someone that is. It will pursue them out of the tower until it reaches the edge of the visible range of the tower's darkness beam. It will also obey the wearer of the compass unless instructed to do otherwise.

All rooms of the tower have normal gravity and are magically lit by floating globes of light that respond to spoken commands to dim or change color. These are Dancing Lights projected by the tower itself. The mana level has been reduced by the tower itself to a Normal Mana Area, for the sake of safety.

The tower's interior has multiple levels and a number of rooms. There's clearly enough space for about twenty people to live comfortably and it's obvious that the tower was once occupied by a powerful group of adventurers, as there are preserved heads of monsters hung on many of the walls. There's even a stuffed beholder magically suspended in the main room at the base of the tower and enhanced with a minor permanent illusion that makes it look likes it's staring at anyone that enters.

The stuffed beholder should distract any intruder long enough for the golem defender to attack by surprise.

This room in the basement of the tower has been modified to collect and store vast quantities of the powerful mana surrounding the tower. This is a High Mana Area.

The room has all of the gear and supplies required for a high-end enchanter's laboratory. When used for enchanting work, this equipment adds 900 to the caster's Magery level.

At the center of the room is a circular iron table welded to the floor that serves as a work area and a mana storage device. It can store up to 2000 energy and gains 1 point every 6 hours. The tower itself is powered by this device, drawing 1 energy per day to maintain itself and 2 energy every time it fires a disintegration beam.

The table can create bulk matter at a cost of 5 energy per 10 pounds. It can create exotic matter for an additional cost of 15 energy per 10 pounds, per +50% of Cosmic required by Create to create it. It cannot exceed +250% of Cosmic, however. It can transmute matter for a cost of 1 energy per 10 pounds. It can transmute matter into exotic matter for this price plus the cost for creating exotic matter previously mentioned.

For example, a pound of ice is 5 energy, a pound of Essential Ice is 20 energy and a pound of True Ice is 35 energy.

1. Only works for transmutation.
2. Meteoric iron cannot be further transmuted; it's immune to magic.

One room of the tower is a forge. The fires within are magically produced, requiring 1 energy from the Sanctum per hour of operation. It could be fueled and stoked in the usual fashion if materials are available. There's recent evidence of a poor craftsman having spent time here; the floor is covered in small bits of twisted metal and broken fragments of failed swords.

The bedrooms are lavishly appointed, with expensive furniture, wall-hangings and rugs.

• Tower Golem

• Tower Golem.gcs