Taras writes "Icespire, a tower jutting from the rocky coast of Ahlissa, permanently shrouded in bitter cold. Madness and death have taken all who have braved it's frigid confines, keeping it's mystries safe...for now.
Author: Taras Guarhoth (montand@canonfire.com)
Used with Permission. Do not repost without obtaining prior permission from the author.
On The Creation of the Icespire
A report to the Lord Mayor of Irongate
by Relken Nashalla, 569 CY
In the 565th year of our Empire, on the 9th of Wealsun, the
Lezt Lechtfeur was the site of a magical disaster of unknown origin.
Over 120 people were at the beacon when this happened. None appears
to have survived. In the aftermath of the disaster, most people
renamed the Lezt Lechtfeur the name it bears today, Icespire.
The beacon stood upon a small promontory of land along the
eastern part of Ahlissa’s northern coast. The beacon served
to warn ships traveling along the coast of the dangerous rocks
which lay offshore, and were the result of numerous shipwrecks
until the beacon was completed in the 217th year of our Empire.
The tower stood over 100 feet tall, it’s top containing the
actual beacon itself, lit by a continual light spell. A small
keep was attached to the tower in the 410th year of our Empire.
This is where the majority of the inhabitants of the Lezt Lechtfeur
resided. The imperial garrison here was mainly used to discourage
piratical raids upon the area, and to deal with the occasional
bandit raid.
A series of sea-caves were located along the southern side
of the promontory, and were rumored to contain the tomb of either
a powerful Suel or ancient Flan mage. The truth of the matter
was never determined, as those few who braved the caves generally
failed to return. During the construction of the keep, it is known
that one of the caverns was breached during the construction of
a level underneath the beacon. Several of the workers disappeared
immediately afterwards, although the reason was never determined.
The cavern was sealed off, and the disappearances stopped.
In the 561st year of our Empire, the mage Torvish Hachalm was
assigned to Lezt Lechtfeur. It is known that he had an interest
in the sea-caves beneath the promontory, and whatever their contents
were. It is unknown what he discovered within the caverns below
the beacon, but it is known that he apparently re-opened the sealed
chamber, as several former soldiers from the garrison have asserted.
It is believed that whatever he found, it was responsible for
the destruction of the garrison and the current condition of the
beacon.
Near the end of the month of Wealsun, the Herzog of Ahlissa
sent a small force of soldiers (roughly 200 men) to investigate
what happened to the beacon and it’s garrison. Only two returned,
both of them madmen after encountering whatever currently laired
within the beacon. Both men were extensively questioned, as best
as could be, but little could be gained from their insane ranting
about creatures of hideous cold, ice, and darkness. Both died
within a year of their return from the accursed beacon.
The Herzog then commissioned a handful of diviners to determine
what happened to the garrison there. The first, Aldara Nashalla,
ended up as mad as the soldiers who managed to make it out of
the beacon alive. She killed herself a week later, without having
revealed anything new to the Herzog’s men. Travik von Estmesse,
the second diviner, was found frozen to death after his attempt
to learn more about the beacon. The third was Karl Zavnen. He
had more success than the first two, and managed to record a small
amount of information before his mind was wiped clean by whatever
he saw. Later, he was able to recover, and is the only one of
the diviners to have lived to see the next year. Devon Ishnaod
and Lyrassa Veron were both reduced to madness, similar to Aldara
Nashalla, and both killed themselves shortly thereafter (Lyrassa
Veron by throwing herself from the battlements of Zelradton).
Stephane du Chathold, the last of the diviners, and among the
strongest, had the marrow within his bones frozen moments after
he began his spells. Needless to say, he died.
The Herzog refused to waste any further lives on the mysteries
of Icespire, and so it stands today, a gleaming spire of blue-white
ice, gleaming in the sun. It’s deadly cold extends for several
miles around the old beacon, and none dare approach it now. In
the far north, where such cold is more commonplace, the chill
would be dangerous. Here, in the southern reaches of the empire,
it’s exceedingly deadly. Those who were foolish enough to
venture too close to the spire have lost limbs to the deathly
chill. Perhaps it is best that the cold is so deadly, for it keeps
the foolish away from the old beacon, and away from the horrors
within.
Also, see Karl Zavnen's Notes on Icespire and the Tale of Kaldak
von Shargallen for more on the site known as Icespire.
Note: Ahlissa, CthulhuHawk"