Greetings patrons! It is once again time for some interesting locations. This one came to me in a dream, and I think it’s pretty neat. Honestly, the idea of a wizard’s tower floating in the clouds was always an image that stuck with me, and today’s location is exactly that.

Note: The above image does not quite capture what I was thinking, but it has the right “vibes” for this entry, so I’m using it.

The Fatesworn Skyhold

Keywords: Wizard, flying, prophecy, campaign hub

Location Appropriate For: Any region open to the sky.

Proprietor: Alfius (Seneschal)

Description

Looking up, you see what appears at first to be simply a strangely-shaped cloud. However, a closer look reveals something startling: the cloud surrounds the base of a tall, slender stone tower flying high above you. The cloud and the tower above it serenely float in the sky, drifting at the pace of a plodding horse.

The Fatesworn Skyhold is indeed a flying tower, a construction set amongst the clouds centuries ago, the home base of a group of wizards who dedicated themselves to solving a prophesied crisis.

Characters may attempt a history check (DC 20) to learn more about this ancient structure. If they succeed, they learn the following information:

• Nine wizards foresaw a terrible crisis at an indeterminate future date.

• The wizards constructed the skyhold as a solution to this crisis; the wizards them put themselves to sleep within it until the time comes for them to awaken and put their magics to use.

• The skyhold is quite mysterious and none can say for certain what lies within it, or for what particular catastrophe it is intended to forestall.

Reaching the Skyhold: There are two methods to get up to the flying tower.

Option 1 is to simply fly up there. Many parties of adventurers have access to flight, or teleportation, or other means to move through the air.

Option 2 is for Alfius to teleport down to the ground and introduce himself (assuming the player characters are within a mile or so of the tower). If you go with this option, read aloud or paraphrase the following:

The air next to you ripples for a moment, and then, an elderly winged kobold appears, wearing a tailored suit and a pair of spectacles. “Ah!” He says, excitedly, then inclines his head in a respectful nod. “Yes, well, it is a pleasure to meet you. My name is Alfius, and I am the steward of the Fatesworn Skyhold.”

Alfius can teleport to and from the skyhold at will, a benefit of his position as steward. He can bring along a small group with him when he does this, allowing Alfius to act as transportation. This is a good moment for Alfius to invite the player characters to the skyhold to discuss an offer for adventure…

Inside the Skyhold: The tower has 13 floors (or, at least 13, as there may be more hidden in extra-planar pockets). The first floor has the only door to the outside of the tower and is where all visitors initially appear after using a skyhold icon (see below).

Floor 1 features the main greeting chamber, Alfius’ living quarters and study, and a well-appointed dining room.

Floor 2 is known as the Oathvault. It is a large circular chamber with a floating, glittering crystal hovering in the center of the room. From time to time, the crystal mysteriously “calls” to individuals who visit this chamber. If the called individual touches the crystal, they receive a mental image of a place, person, or event that they must then protect… and the individual also receives an item, often a magical trinket that should help them succeed. The item is usually paired with a cryptic warning of some future event.

Around the exterior of this room are nine diamond-cut glass sarcophagi. Each sarcophagus contains the form of one of the sleeping wizards known as the Fatesworn. Here, they sleep, awaiting the time of greatest need before they awaken once more.

Floors 3-11 are the individual Fatesworn’s floors. Each one contains living quarters, some kind of study, and a few other rooms, all personalized to the individual wizard.

Floor 12 is the tower’s main library. The walls are all filled with shelves holding hundreds of books, many of which are ancient, rare, unusual, or all three. The room also features several comfortable chairs and a few writing desks containing ink, quills, and paper.

Floor 13 is off-limites, its contents unknown even to Alfius. The kobold believes it may contain a portal to a massive dungeon of some kind. However, Aldius does not have the key that opens that door; he suspects that the key may be locked within the Oathvault crystal.

Furthermore, Alfius is confident that there may be more levels of the tower, sealed off or unknown, save, perhaps to the Fatesworn.

The Prophecy: Little is known for certain about the prophecy that set everything in motion for the creation of the skyhold and the nine fatesworn. Even Alfius does not know what the prophecy says; he only knows that it foretells a terrible calamity that the fatesworn are meant to deal with.

Thus, it is open for your campaign as to what event the prophecy is about. It could foresee the return of a great evil, the end of the world, or some other, similar catastrophe that must be stopped. In any event, the prophecy is best used as a reason for why the fatesworn exist and an event that can drive action in your campaign setting.

Important NPCs

Alfius: A winged kobold of advanced age, he tends to the tower and the fatesworn mages. Alfius wears a very proper vest and pants, a pair of spectacles adorning his face. His tufts of hair are white, the only signal of his many decades serving the fatesworn.

The kobold is convinced that the day the fatesworn have waited for is coming soon… and he intends to use adventurers to bring back knowledge or locate signs that may indicate what that day may be and how soon it might arrive.

Alfius is very polite, but he can be firm when it comes to his role in the Skyhold — it is his to care for, and thus, he is the final decider for anything that happens inside or regarding his home. He has a dry sense of humor and has a particular fondness for young, rookie, or naive adventurers.

The Nine Fatesworn: These wizards are not fully detailed here; instead, they are meant for you to flesh out for your own campaign. The wizards can be of any species or gender you wish; it is intended that the wizards represent the nine major schools of magic, but that is also something you can adjust for your campaign should you wish. The only real requirement is that the wizards are quite old, at least, chronologically. Many of them took their oaths centuries ago, while a few are even older than that.

Inside the skyhold, each wizard has their own floor, including living quarters, magic items, familiars, etc. Some wizards may have their own, independent libraries from the one on floor 12. The wizards may have their own research, goals, friends, rivals, or enemies.

Secret

Skytower Icon: This item is a small, roughly thumb-sized oak carving that resembles the skyhold’s main tower. Once the item is attuned, it can store a single command word. When the icon is held and the command word is spoken, the icon teleports the person holding it and any friendly creatures within ten feet into the first floor of the skyhold.

Alfius is very careful with these icons, as he only possesses three of them. He keeps one on his person at all times, the second is a backup that is secured within a safe in Alfius’ quarters, and the third is the one he is willing to hand over to trustworthy adventurers who make their home in the skyhold.

Adventure Seeds

A New Beginning: The player characters are journeying from one location to another when they spot the skyhold overhead. Moments later, Alfius teleports in front of them and asks the heroes to join him in the skyhold to hear his proposal.

If the player characters agree (and do not attack or insult Alfius), he teleports the group to the first floor of the skyhold and offers to let them stay there, using the skyhold as a campaign hub and home base. In return, the heroes must swear to help awaken the Fatesworn, as Alfius believes the cataclysm they are destined to stop is coming very soon.

Next, Alfius gives the player characters a skytower icon so they can come and go as they please. Afterwards, Alfius becomes a “questgiver,” an NPC the DM can use to distribute adventure hooks and missions that tie into the overall prophecy that the Fatesworn are involved with.