The Tower Beneath

Created by Schnoobie

At the end of a wizard's time living in Anmurim, they make a pilgrimage to the Underdark. They seek a warm, wet, well-kept tower set into a cave accessible only by the magical crossing of a 400 ft. gorge. Winged creatures find themselves sucked down into this gorge unless aided by a fly spell or other magics.
Once a wizard reaches the entrance and presents a suitable display of their magical prowess, a withered hand opens the door and the Tower's keeper, Cephalixx, beckons them in. This old illithilich has made it its unlife's mission to collect and store all magical knowledge in Anmurim in this Tower, and the upbringing of those who live in Anmurim lets Cephalixx do this well.
A dying wizard spends their last day proving to Cephalixx that they possess some new knowledge of magic. If their offering is worthy, then their brain is willingly extracted and fed to the Tower. If they are unworthy, then their soul is fed to Cephalixx's phylactery in the hopes it continues its quest eternally.
The physical tower structure is hollow. Under the stone floors and between the walls slithers The Tower, an elder oblex that stores the memories of the wizards it is fed. At any point, The Tower can manifest simulacra of these wizards to clean its home, mend structural damage, and defend from intruders. 1200 years of continued feeding has allowed The Tower to grow to gargantuan size and know all spells up to 7th level. It could easily usurp Cephalixx and take over its work, but The Tower's personality is made exclusively of mages who willingly devoted their minds to the lich. So it remains ever the creature's loyal servant, eager to help Cephalixx, and any adventurer who gains favor with its master.

Purpose / Function

To store the accumulated magical knowledge of all wizards and mages in Anmurim.

Design

The central room is slick with ooze and smells vaguely of sulfur. This large, circular receiving room is magically warmed to the comfort level of its guests, and any furniture is simply a manifestation of The Tower pouring itself out of small holes lining the walls and floors of the entire structure.
Each of eight branching rooms is designed specifically to emulate the school of magic a being can retrieve from it. For example the Transmutation room has walls of swirling gold and lead. The Illusion room seems to stretch on for eternity, and projects the ideal relaxation space for the beings that enter. The Conjuration room is so permeated by planar manipulation and teleportation magic that it has ceased to function according to rules of spacial continuity.
Overall, The Tower is efficiently designed. Each room is a perfect, 100 ft. radius by 20 ft. high cylinder. This allows The Tower to manifest itself in any point within a room's space.

Denizens

Two beings occupy this space: Cephalixx, and The Tower itself.
Cephalix has been an illithilich for 1300 years, and has fed wizards to The Tower for 1100 years. It occupies its time researching new magics with the aid of its sentient library of magical secrets.
The Tower is that library, a gargantuan, ancient elder oblex created 1200 years ago to store the minds of wizards. Its mass is stored within the hollow walls and floors of the stone structure that the uninformed call The Tower Beneath. Centuries of being fed countless willing wizard minds has granted The Tower the knowledge of all spells up to 7th level, which any manifested simulacrum can cast as though it were a 20th level wizard (with spell slots corresponding to a wizard of that level). It manifests slimy versions of its meals to converse with guests, and forms itself into spellbooks for ease of access to the knowledge stored within.

Alterations

The floors and walls of the structure have been hollowed out and 1 in. holes have been strategically bored to allow the manifestation of simulacra, either of former wizards, or bookcases containing the spellbook of every spell from one school of magic up to 7th level.

Architecture

The structure of The Tower's home is carved out of the side of an Underdark cliff. Dark, uniform stone is molded into a standing structure with two floors. The first floor has eight branches from a central room, one for each school of magic. Relief carvings of the name of each school are labeled in Qualith, the mind-flayer text, at the entrance to each room.
The second floor holds Cephalixx's phylactery, a blue, glowing outcrop of gems pulsing with arcane energy. It was this deposit of gems that drew Cephalixx here in the first place, as it hangs from the ceiling of the second floor. If the phylactery is ever threatened, The Tower will flood the room with itself, pushing intruders down the spiral staircase they used to get there.

History

Cephalixx achieved lichdom 1300 years ago, and spent the next 100 years brewing The Tower.
Cephalixx was made aware of the strange culture of the people of Anmurim above and agreed to store the knowledge of its wizards in The Tower 1100 years ago.
By present day, all wizards and mages raised in Anmurim know of The Tower as their final resting place. They are happy to donate their minds and souls to Cephalixx so that their life's work can be preserved.

Type

Tower, Mage