The Specter Tower of Sowell

Also known as the Haunted Tower of Sowell, this ghostly locale straddles the border between the physical world and the spirit realm. Now cloaked in an erie magical mist, the island was once home to Kelney and Augustine Sowell. Their mighty tower is now ruins infested with undead ranging from Skeletons and Zombies to much more dreaded Grey Spirits. Many adventurers and treasure hunters came to the island in search of the family's vast wealth and jewels, but none returned - overwhelmed by invulnerable, malevolent guardian sprits and the deadly wailing Banshee of Kelney Sowell.

The upper floors of the tower were destroyed in a cataclysmic event and the remaining walls and rooms are crumbling. An erie green light shines from above the tower, and a sinister magical fog engulfs the entire island.

Armed with enchanted spirit weapons crafted by the enchantress Coal Triplefang, our heroes battled the horrors of the tower retrieving the Celestial Needle and a substantial haul of treasure. In the process they freed the spirit of Augustine Sowell. The couple, now in spirit form, are presumably headed for Silvergate and eventually the Empire.

Our heroes saw 5 visions inside the tower - ghostly glimpses into the past viewed through the lens of the Spirit Realm.
They are listed here in the order our heroes witnessed them.

There is a large table in the center of the room bathed in the light of an opulent chandelier holding dozens of candles. The table is set with several loaves, a stew or soup that you can actually smell, a cooked bird, and goblets of wine. 5 women, 2 men, and 3 children are gathered around the table, some standing and some seated. You do not recognized anyone, but they clearly all know each other.

A lady in an elaborate gown, the style of which you can not place, holds up her cup. She is perhaps old enough to have very young grandchildren or perhaps she is younger and the blue tint of her light hair makes her look more elderly than she is.

“The stones are simply transcendent. Their effect is beyond our expectations,” she says, lavishing her praise on a couple with their backs to you.

“Quite so. Not only do they keep the wolves and goblins at bay, but even that pesky leach Imlay has been driven off,” adds a seated gentleman in a fine coat and hat.

A laugh goes up at his comment. You notice a dour looking boy sitting at the far end of the table was the only one not to laugh. He merely stares off dolefully. You turn to look at what he's gazing at, but there's nothing there.

“Yes. You've outdone yourselves. We're once again in your debt,” says the woman, taking a sip from her cup.

“I can't in good conscience take any share of credit for this one. The stones were fully Kelney's work. Is she not the consummate enchantress?” says the male of the couple with their backs to you.

The female turns to him smiling. Now that you can see her face, even just from the side, she draws your focus and attention away from the rest of the room. Her hair and eyes are as deep a blue as you can imagine. Her skin is flawless and her profile striking. Less important details around the room grow fuzzy and are lost. Kelney gets up, leaning over to quickly hug her husband before stepping back from the table to make room to curtsy in such a way the includes not just those as the table, but you standing at the door too.

Another jovial laugh goes up from everyone but the boy.

“You won't stay in our debt for long, dear Wynnie. I'll ask for a favor in return soon enough,” says Kelney.

As she turns away from you the stolen details return to the others in the room, balancing them out.

“You remember the Windblown Chief's Premier?” Kelney asks leadingly.

Wynnie coughs, choking slightly on her wine.

“mom,” interrupts the boy.

Everyone turns with a startle not unlike that of the first time you heard Reynard speak. Wynnie looks a bit relieved at the well-timed distraction.

“i'm hungry,” he states flatly. Somehow, this emotionless utterance sends a shiver up your spine.

Kelney slips her way around the table to him, once again drawing you in with her room-filling presence.

“I know,” she says, slathering comfort on the boy.

A full bowl of food sits in front of him on the table.

Shelves full of all manner of small bags, boxes, and glass containers form along the outer wall and cabinets appear on the opposite wall. The room is lit by 4 strong, steady glowing blue spheres hanging down from the ceiling. Kelney stands near a counter or tall workbench. Her husband appears right in front of you, so near that Sunna hops back against the wall with a startle to avoid him. Neither of them is dressed as elaborately as before. However, Kelney is wearing the same necklace of jewels as before, but there are now more gemstones than there were. Her husband appears to be wearing some type of soft leather armor.

Kelney glares at her husband.

“Augustine WHAT,” she says, biting back anger. “have you done to your eye?”

You see his right eye is covered by a rather handsome eye patch, matching the armored tunic.

“It is gone, my dear. Don't worry. I will find a suitable replacement,” he answers.

“Gone?”

The enchantress narrows her eyes, calculating as anger slowly turns to concern.

“Gone where? A sacrifice to The Queen of Thorns? I warned you not to call on her.”

“What's done is done, dear Kelney. She offered me a fair exchange and I needed the boost. We can't all be as naturally gifted as you. In fact, none of us can. I need assistance here and there to keep up.”

Kelney steps around the counter and takes Augustine's left hand, holding it out and placing it on her right shoulder. The move strikes you as a touch odd and it's as if Augustine is stuck in that pose for a while before the scene continues.

“You don't need to 'keep up'. We are combined as one, together unmatched. My glory is yours and yours mine,” she says with a small, heartmelting smile.

“Stay away from The Queen,” she adds much less sweetly.

Impressive banners and cloth tapestries hang down the outer wall. Fur rugs cover the floor. A roaring blue fire crackles in an unusually shaped hearth in a part of them room that has long since fallen away. You can smell the woods burning and feel the warmth from across the room. Equally so there's a muted chill seeping in from outside. Augustine is slumped in a comfortable armchair. He looks older or exhausted or both. His eye patch is gone, but so is his left arm. In his right hand he holds a silvery blue metal staff, perhaps 4 feet long, with a sharp point at its bottom end.

Kelney is in the room too. While Augustine is wearing a full winter longcoat, Kelney is wearing only a few light, thin summery cloths the shade of blue to match her eyes. However, she is wearing an awful lot of bling. Bracelets, an anklet, rings, her very impressive necklace and even jewelry in her light blue hair. One of this couple is not dressed for the temperature in the room, but with both the sensations of warm and cold here you can not tell which one.

“Oh dear, oh dear me. Something is quite amiss, my dear. Yes, not right at all, I fear,” Kelney recites, flitting around the room as her husbands eyes follow her wearily.

“I cannot put my finger on the missing detail, though I fear it is quite large and glaring. A piece of you is a piece of me. I can feel the loss. Something you're not wearing?” she continues.

Augustine is of little help. He looks away from her without answering, but not for long. His eyes return to watch her shortly afterwards.

Kelney twirls distractingly and seemingly pointlessly, but at the end of her spin she has snatched the silvery-blue staff from her husband's hand and cocks it back like a javelin. He looks caught by surprise by the move, but somehow past caring. The enchantress jabs the staff forward ferociously, sinking it deep into the grand armchair where Augustine's left shoulder should be, but isn't. The staff sticks out straight ahead as though he were holding his left arm extended. For an instant you can see his arm there instead of the staff, but a moment later it is the staff again.

“YOUR ARM!” she yells, in a sudden rage. “And I KNOW just where it has gone. The Queen. The Queen. THE QUEEN took it, did she not?” Kelney swats at nothing in the air.

“No, you GAVE it to her,” she howls in anger. “Your arm is MINE. You have no right to give it to her.”

“I had no other choice,” Augustine barks back. “We have obligations, commitments, duties. We have promised our powers to many, but you…” he trails off.

“But I play games with chip and pawn and make men dance from death to dawn,” she finishes, no longer furious. A serenity washes over her and she returns to flitting around the room humming.

The blue scene slowly fades away.

A man screams in terror.

The man staggers back with a look of horror on his face. The blue-ish man is not Augustine. You reflexively get out out of his way, but not before seeing what the man saw through the door.

A girl in the blue dress is lying face down on the floor in a pool of blood. The back of her head is cracked open from a violent blow by a heavy object. Her left arm has been torn or cut off at the elbow and the hungry boy from the first vision is chewing remorselessly on the severed arm.

“Your…” the man stammers “Your boy is a… MONSTER!”

You turn to see that the man has taken a few steps down the stairs and is now facing Kelney Sowell, who is about 6 feet from the man. She is dressed in magnificent robes (different from what she wore in the dinning hall) and her signature jewelry. She looks vibrant, breathtaking, and somehow awe inspiring. She raises her arms and commandingly intones a few short arcane phrases. The man looks to his left and right in a panic. He steps backwards one step up the stair, but his heel catches on the edge of the stair and he falls back against the stairs. Two blazing rays shoot from Kelney's raised hands and burn two massive holes through the man's chest. The man arches up for a moment and then slumps lifelessly, his shirt catching flame. The damage to his chest and shoulder is so severe that his left arm falls off completely. Kelney walks past the man's body, idly dousing the upstart flames with a magical spray of water, to go check on her son.

Two men stand just inside a balcony with the thick, oaken, shutter-like doors thrown wide open. One man is clearly Augustine with his arm intact but once again sporting the eye patch. The other man you don't recognize. He is shorter and older than Augustine Sowell.

The shorter man is looking out to the sea or a courtyard it's hard to tell because of the thick mist, which was clearly not an issue when this scene took place.

“They're dead?” asks the man in disbelief.

“Not really. They were once dead, but no longer. They're ready to do battle again. More durable this time. Just don't expect any heroics or creativity.”

The man turns and passes Augustine a pouch that he seem reluctant to give up. The magician pours a few blue gemstones out into his hand and back into the pouch before handing the man a very light blue carved charm a bit smaller than a knife.

“This will let you command them. When the last one falls the totem is worse than useless. Pitch it into the sea as soon as you can.”

The man nods at the advice and tucks the charm inside his vest.

“Where is your lovely wife? The tower is less radiant without her presence.”

“She has gone to Trellor. You have no doubt heard of her sister's… disappearance. They have family there,” answers the sorcerer.

“Ah, Trellor. That is good to hear. My clansmen are full of tales of a breathtaking witch leading four flaming tigers at the Battle of Low Plains turning the rain to a shower of fiery rock. It not the first rumor of the sort either. I was beginning to worry that… Well, the Low Plains are nowhere near Trellor. That puts my mind at ease.”

Augustine narrows his lone eye at the man. His tone turns icy serious.

“If you ever hear a clansman imply this witch you speak of might be my beloved Kelney and don't correct him in the strongest possible way, I swear your tongue will be forfeit if not your whole throat. Am I clear?”

The man swallows hard. He is about to answer when he flickers and fades away, but Augustine, the balcony, and doorway remain. With the man no longer there Sowell's gaze falls directly on Holly. He holds out his left arm pointing straight at her.

“You should not be here,” Augustine says in the same forbidding tone.