THE FLOATING TOWER
This amazing tower flies high over the heads of those who walk the earth.
Stronghold Size: 27 stronghold spaces
Total Stronghold Cost: 2,800,000 gp
Room Descriptions
Modify the descriptions given below as appropriate for your campaign.
Entry Hall
Most visitors use this fancy common area as their point of entry. Chairs and couches line the walls, and the transparent floor allows you to see the ground far below. The guards often use this space to keep an eye on those below them, especially when they wander over hostile territory
A single guard stands watch here at all times.
Bedrooms
The butler occupies one of the two rooms in this fancy bedroom component, and the captain of the guard lives in the other.
Servants’ Quarters
The lower-ranking servants share these quarters. The two cooks sleep here, along with the stable boy and the scullery maid. Two extra bunks allow visitors to put up their servants here.
Barracks
Ten tower guards occupy this chamber. The guards in this barracks are responsible for one of the floating platforms (area 26), as well as the guard post atop the tower’s roof. The guards’ assignments rotate periodically, with each getting a day off every ten days.
Every guard is outfitted with magic arms, armor, and equipment as appropriate to your game. Most have at least one level of wizard, allowing them to utilize wands or scrolls in defense of the tower.
Storage
This area is used primarily for storage of miscellaneous household items. The owner might keep a secret chest of valuables hidden here, but most of that sort of stuff is bound to be up in the vault (14) on the second floor instead.
Barracks
Much like area 4, ten tower guards occupy this chamber. The guards in this barracks are responsible for one of the floating platforms (area 27), as well as the guard post in the entry hall (area 1).
Bathroom
The water for this fancy bathroom comes from an everful basin.
Privy
The scullery maid cleans out this fancy privy on a regular basis, dumping waste out over the edge of the front landing. If the maid is in a good mood, she waits until the place is not scudding over a populated area. If she’s in a foul mood, look out below!
Armory
Masterwork and magic weaponry and armor of all sorts fill this fancy armory. Enough weapons and armor is here for every guard, plus half again as many, just in case visitors or the other servants need to be pressed into service defending the tower.
Magic Laboratory
This fancy magic laboratory is fully stocked with a variety of arcane material components and focuses. A lab assistant works here. A decanter of endless water works as the water supply.
Servants’ Quarters
Two lab assistants, the librarian, and the owner’s personal valet live here in relative (for servants) luxury. In a pinch, two additional bunks could be set up for the servants of visitors.
Alchemical Laboratory
This fancy alchemical laboratory is full over everything a wizard might need to whip up any kind of alchemical concoctions or experiments. A lab assistant works here.
Kitchen
This luxury kitchen can easily make enough food to feed the entire household and several guests. Most servants eat their meals in here, but the butler and captain of the guard often share their meals at the owner’s table. An everful basin works as the water supply here. A cabinet of stasis keeps foodstuffs fresh.
Vault
The owner stores her valuables and magic items in this fancy storage area. The door has an improved arcane lock that only the owner, the butler, and the captain of the guard can open. Since the whole tower is more secure than most other vaults, there are no other safeguards on this room.
Bedrooms
These fancy bedrooms serve as guest rooms for visiting spellcasters working in the laboratories with the owner. Other times, the bedrooms host the servants of guests staying upstairs. From time to time, the owner may catch a few winks here while working on an experiment that she doesn’t want to get too far away from.
Library
This luxury library features nine different lots of books on a variety of subjects. A librarian rules over all with an iron fist, carefully scrutinizing visitors and the books they peruse. If anyone but the owner attempts to check a book out of the place, the librarian requires them to sign a registry that keeps track of the books. A cursory glance shows that the books are always returned—and in good condition.
Bedroom Suite
The tower’s owner sleeps in this fancy bedroom suite. The exterior walls and ceiling are entirely clear, allowing for a fantastic view of the surrounding area. In addition to the standard bright luminary, the room also has a black luminary in it for when the owner would prefer a bit more privacy.
Study
The owner spends much time working or in thought in this fancy study. She also receives business visitors here. The transparent wall and ceiling provide a breathtaking vista.
Bedrooms
These fancy bedrooms are kept ready and waiting for the owner’s closest friends and most important guests. The ceiling and exterior walls are transparent, but each room features a black luminary here, as well as the bright luminary, for when the occupants would like some more privacy.
Bathroom
This fancy bathroom is for the exclusive use of the owner and her most valued guests. A decanter of endless water supplies the room’s water needs.
Stables
Unlike most stables, this one is only partially roofed. A large hole in the ceiling allows flying visitors and their mounts to enter the tower. A stable boy is on duty here most of the time, tending to the owner’s own mounts. A greater platform of telekinesis sitting in one corner can transfer mounts in and out of the area. This especially comes in handy when dealing with horses and other nonflying mounts. In addition, when the stable boy cleans out the stables—which he does regularly—he uses the platform to dump the waste out over some unpopulated area.
This room is also a chamber of airy water. This comes in extremely handy in those rare times when the owner takes the entire structure underwater.
Privy
This well-appointed privy is for the exclusive use of the owner and her guests. Water is provided here by an everful basin. The scullery maid regularly cleans out the chamber pots. She usually takes them up top and dumps them over the edge, taking pains to do so over the privy roof so as to not make a mess on any of the transparent walls.
Banquet Hall
Few dining experiences are as amazing as the one most have in this luxurious dining hall. The walls and ceiling of this entire section of the floor are transparent, revealing a stunning panoramic view from an incredibly comfortable setting. A long dining table occupies the leftmost corner of the room. Up to 12 people can be hosted around this table at a time, although most nights it’s only the owner herself and perhaps the butler and the captain of the guard dining here.
The owner’s chair at the table also functions as the control center for the Floating Tower’s mobility (both airborne and submerged). Anyone seated in this chair—a massive throne of carved darkwood inlaid with silver—has complete control over the stronghold’s movement (a fact so well-concealed that even most of the stronghold’s inhabitants don’t know it).
The rightmost section of this room is a cozy area filled with overstuffed chairs. A ready supply of wines and liquors is available.
Trophy Room
This fancy trophy hall is separated from the banquet hall by a low railing in which there’s an unlocked gate. Inside this space, trophies and souvenirs from the owner’s amazing adventures are on display. Some of these may have magical properties, but most such devices are kept down in the vault (14) instead.
Roof
The owner likes to come up to the roof from time to time to get some truly fresh air and to take in the view. The roof is reached by means of a greater platform of telekinesis kept in the stables (21)
The roof has the spiderwalk augmentation, which helps protect those here from falling or being blown off.
A single guard stands watch here at all times.
Floating Platform
This floating platform is a platform of telekinesis surrounded by a low crenellated wall of transparent iron (hardness 10, hit points 90, break DC 30). This wall grants one-half cover to anyone on the platform (or three-quarters cover against attacks from below and no cover against attacks from above). The controller can operate the platform from anywhere on the deck.
Furthermore, a Leomund’s temperate hut on the platform provides total concealment to anyone standing on the platform. In addition, a spiderwalk augmentation help keep anyone on the platform from falling off. A shuttered lantern with continual flame sits in the center of the platform as an additional light source.
The guards on these platforms use powerful ranged attacks (including wands, if available) to soften up targets from a distance. They don’t leave their platforms if at all possible.
A pair of guards from area 2 stands watch on this platform at all times. They work in three 8-hour shifts.
Floating Platform
This floating platform is identical to the other (area 26). A pair of guards from area 3 stands watch on this platform at all times. They work in three 8-hour shifts.
The Basics
The exterior of the entire place is made entirely of transparent iron (3 inches thick; hardness 10, hit points 90, break DC 30) with a layer of 3-inch-thick magically treated wood paneling (hardness 10, hit points 60, break DC 37) on the inner side. This inner layer gives the rooms of the tower a warmer appearance and feel, as well as allowing privacy. Uncovered “windows” allow light to enter while allowing the place to remain entirely sealed from the exterior environment. All interior walls are magically treated 6- inch-thick wood (hardness 10, hit points 120, break DC 40).
Certain spaces on the third floor have entirely uncovered exterior walls, giving the occupants a breathtaking view of the environs. The ceiling of the third floor is painted, with some unpainted “skylights” allowing light to enter. While concerns about privacy might be an issue for some, few if any creatures can peer into such locations on a regular basis.
All exterior walls (including the roof and base of the tower) are ethereal solids, and the entire structure is airtight, meaning that if necessary, the entire place can go underwater—perhaps to facilitate a visit to an underwater civilization, or possibly so that the owner could hide her home beneath the waves of a deep lake or ocean, at least temporarily. In a pinch, the entire place can be used like some massive, fantastic submarine.
Each stronghold space bears inscriptions of vacancy, ensuring that anyone attempting to spy into the tower by magical means will be thwarted, and is also a chamber of comfort, keeping fresh air circulating throughout the structure and all chambers comfortable regardless of the outside temperature.
A dozen bright luminaries spaced around the outside the tower provide plenty of light, making the Floating Tower a truly impressive sight at night. However, these exterior luminaries are designed to be activated or deactivated from a panel near the front door. This way, the lights can be doused when the tower is under attack, making the tower much harder to see at night. Inside, continual flame and permanent daylight spells illuminate the rooms.
Last but not least, as its name suggests the Floating Tower is capable of moving through air (and water) at a rate of six miles per day. It is submersible, able to withstand the pressures of the deep ocean. The Floating Tower’s mobility is linked to.
Getting In
Only two ways exist to get into the floating tower peaceably. The easiest is through the front door. A landing directly outside the entry hall (area 1) serves this purpose. In addition, visitors can land on the roof, then drop or fly directly into the open-roofed stables (area 23) that sit in the center of the top floor.
The main doors and the stable doors are covered by improved arcane locks. These are left locked at all times, although they can be opened by the owner, the butler, the captain of the guard, and any of the other guards.
Defenses
The floating tower’s main form of defense is the fact that it’s a floating tower. The vast majority of people don’t even have a hope of reaching the front door, much less knocking it down.
In addition, the tower has two floating defense platforms (areas 26 and 27) circling it at all times. These are platforms of telekinesis that have low crenellated walls of transparent iron (hardness 10, hit points 90, break DC 30) that grant one-half cover to anyone on the platform (except against attacks from above).
Comments