The Watchtowers of U-Lyshak 1

• THE WATCHTOWERS OF U-LYSHAK •

The sheer cliffs along the southwest coast of the Jaimanmainland were once the border of the Kingdom of U-Lyshak.A series of watchtowers was constructed atop this shore,spaced ten leagues apart (about one day’s ride) along thecoastline from the Saralis border at the Rough River in thenorth, down to the isthmus of Aranos where the kingdomof Ly-aran began (before it was conquered by the Warlordof Ulor). These towers served several functions. All werelighthouses to steer sailors away from the treacherous coast-line and as lookouts to guard against attacks by Ulor; andsome were way-stations along the coast road. Some wereactually constructed on small islands just off the rocky shore.

The towers were constructed between c. 3700 - 3850 SEIby the kings of U-Lyshaak, before the Six Crowns were giftedto the Kings of Jaiman and when the kingdom needed toguard against the increasing threat of Ulor. All had the samebasic design: a pentagonal tower with five balconies facingin different directions, and at the top a lighthouse. The origi-nal stonework was of fairly high quality, aided by Dwarvenmasons from the nearby Blue Hills. An unusual feature ofthe towers was the extensive metalwork for the crenelationsand lighthouse section.

Though there were some minor variations, the towersall had basically the same layout. They were five sided andsix stories tall, each level having a large balcony up to thesixth, which had balconies on all five sides. The sixth levelwas also the lighthouse.

Underground, the towers had three levels and a secretstairway to a small chamber even further down, which inmany cases had a hidden exit to the shore. In all cases it hadside doors leading to long tunnels that connected the entirestring of towers. While this may seem like a prodigious feat,creating such passages was not so daunting to the Dwarves.These tunnels offered the ability to transport troops in se-cret all along the coast. If the passages were ever discoveredby enemy forces, traps were designed into the tunnels thatcould be set off to collapse portions of the tunnel ceilingsand bury those caught unwarily inside.

The towers served their purpose well for many years, butthen the Six Crowns were given to the kings, crowns withthe magical ability to protect the kingdoms’ borders. Withthe power of the Sea-drake crown at their disposal, the Kings

of U-Lyshaak relied less on the towers to guard their sea-border. Though they were still useful as lodging and naviga-tion aids, less money from the treasury was allocated to theirupkeep, and the towers fell into disrepair. A few were claimedand even inhabited at various time by local landowners, butmost were thought to be haunted in local legend, and leftalone.

The entire chain of towers was rebuilt in the early 5thmillennium of the Third Era by the King of Rhakhaan (call-ing himself the Emperor of Jaiman). At this time some modi-fications were made to various structures. Most of the oldtunnels between the towers had collapsed — either on theirown over the long ages or by the traps being triggered. Itwas decided that the link between the towers was a valuablefeature, but the Dwarves were long gone from westernJaiman. The Emperor decided instead to replace the tunnelswith something more efficient: Portals. In this task he se-cured the aid of certain Loremasters.

The watchtowers were kept in fairly good repair for morethan another thousand years, but in the last few centuriesthey have again fallen into poor condition. Many are nowthe base of local brigands, and at least one is the home of aPriest Arnak. Three along the southern stretch have beenmore or less destroyed, though the underground portionsremain mostly intact – accessible only through the Portalsor the sea entrance. The descriptions of the rooms providedare for the original purpose of the rooms; obviously the useschanged over the years.

LAYOUT: UPPER LEVELS

1. Courtyard Entrance. A set of doors (meeting at an angleto make battering more difficult) allow access to a stair-way up into the raised courtyard.

2. Guard Towers. Flanking the doors are two small towers.Each is about twenty feet tall, with a ladder leading up to awatch room with firing slits, then up to the walled thirdlevel roof.

3. Stairway. Leading from the courtyard up through solidstone to the second landing (5).

4. Courtyard. Surrounded by a four-foot wall, this court-yard is also raised eight feet above the surrounding land.

Author and designer: Terry K. Amthor. Copyright © 2005 Terry K. Amthor.

2 Places of Interest

5. Second Landing. Another eight feet above the courtyard,this landing has a low wall.

6. Upper landing. A series of steps lead four more feet up tothe main door of the tower.

7. Firing slits. These are narrow windows (about six incheswide and three feet tall) designed to allow bowmen to fireon attackers below. All have (or had) metal shutters thatcould be closed and bolted.

8. Door. Like all the doors in the towers, it is of treated theg-wood that only hardens with age and never rots; the planksare bound with a metal that does not corrode. This doorleads into the first level of the tower (which is approxi-mately twenty feet above the ground).

9. Foyer.

10. Dining hall.

11. Guard room.

12. Spiral stair. Stone stairway leading one level down andup to level Four.

13. Privy.

14. Lift. This was a very basic wood cargo elevator, controlledby pulleys on level one. It was used to transport supplies tothe storage areas on the lower levels. There is a secret doorto the outside that allows access to the lift but no directaccess to any other part of the tower. Now most of theselifts have completely rotted away to dust.

15. Kitchen/Pantry. Also quarters for the cook.

16. Second Level Foyer.

17. Tower Staff Quarters. Those responsible for the upkeepof the tower and grounds reside here.

18. Guard Room.

19. Balcony.

20. Armory/Storage.

21. Third Level Foyer.

22. Guest Quarters.

23. Guard Room.

24. Elite Guard Quarters.

25. Spiral Stairway. The stairway ends at this level and is justsurrounded by a railing. A set of metal doors set in thefloor can be slid shut to seal the stairway. The doors areclosed by pulling a lever next to the railing.

26. Stairway. A narrow stone stair leads up to the fifth level(arrow points up).

27. Tower Captains’s Office.

28. Tower Captain’s Quarters.

29. Ladder. Leads up through a hole in the ceiling through atrap door to level six.

30. Ladder. Goes down to level five.

31. Roof/Lighthouse. This top level is open except for a metalroof and is surrounded by five balconies. In the center is

the beacon, a five-sided structure with a huge lens set ineach side. One opens to allow access to the light inside, amagical crystal. In most of the towers, the lenses are dam-aged or gone, and the original crystals are gone from all ofthem).

LAYOUT: UNDERGROUND

LEVELS

1. Spiral Stair.

2. Staging Area.

3. Lift Shaft.

4. Storerooms/Quarters. These rooms were used for stor-age, and as backup barracks when needed.

5. Stairway.

6. Secret Door.

7. Portal Foyer.

8. Portals. To adjacent towers. The portals are set a few feetbeyond heavy doors that can be locked from either side,and barred from the foyer side, to protect from unwantedintruders.

9. Sea Door. In most cases, this doorway leads to a smallledge and a stairway cut into the rock. Leading down to asmall sheltered cove. In a few cases, as noted below, thestairway is underground and leads to a small grotto. TheSea door can be locked and/or barred like the Portal doors.

TOWER VARIATIONS

Following is a listing of the towers by name (see the colorU-Lyshak map), brief notes about features unique to the tow-ers, and their current status. The Layout of the towers – es-pecially the underground portion – does vary somewhat.For instance, the secret passage may be located in a differentplace and hidden in a different way (e.g., in the floor or atthe back of the regular stairwell). Also some of the roomsmight be combined into larger chambers.

Oneth: The northernmost tower in the chain, this one hasno Portal door facing north, just a walled doorway. Thesouth Portal does not function because the Farneth one isblocked. Across the river from the port town of Getesh,this would be an excellent lookout, but the tower is hauntedby a Spectre, his Shadow lieutenants and Skeleton slaves.At night the beacon glows with an eerie green light.

Farneth (Ruin): Nothing left of this tower but tumbledblocks of overgrown stone. Parts of the underground areintact, and the south Portal to Serneth works.

Serneth : Intact, claimed by a local lord. It has a small garri-son. They are not aware of the passage and functioningPortals.

Haneth: Said to be haunted because of a battle that tookplace nearby some centuries ago. There is a moor to the

The Watchtowers of U-Lyshak 3

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44

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4 Places of Interest

south and east where a battle did occur, and it is nowhaunted by Will of the Wisps. The actual tower is inhab-ited by a Neng and a band of Lugroki followers.

Seneth (Island): Intact, and in fact inhabited by a small groupof pirates. The sea passage leads to a grotto large enoughfor a small sailing ship. The pirates know of the Portals(both of which are functioning) but keep the doors lockedand usually guarded.

Chaneth (Island): Intact, inhabited by sailors in the pay ofthe city of Celebi to act as guards. They are unaware of thesecret passage and (functioning) Portals.

Baneth: Controlled by a Quaidu captain from Ulor, it is fullygarrisoned. They terrorize the neighboring farms and hold-ings, demanding protection payments. The secret entranceto the Portal passage has not been discovered.

Tureth: Where Drey escaped to and met Elor. The Tower isbasically intact, though now the main door is destroyed.On the Third level of this tower is the remains of the Ma-gician whose spell evidence Drey Laachek found (see theShadowstone Chroniclefor more details). Thereis nothing left but askeleton and a few tat-tered bits of cloth, andsilver alloy ring, x3 forEssence spells. He wasalso carrying a darkgray metal disc aboutsix inches across, witha few jeweled inlays onthe top surface, and alittle post of the samemetal in the center.This disc was in a hid-den compartment inhis pack, now revealedas the pack rotted away.More on this disc will berevealed later.

Arneth: Inhabited by thepriest Arnak Korianasand a squad of Messen-gers; where theLoremaster DreyLaachek was impris-oned. Korianas was un-aware of the Portals be-fore pursuing Drey.

Ganeth (Ruin): The firstthree levels remain butthe top portion has col-lapsed. Bold adventur-ers might find items of

value in the underground portions. The Portals are func-tional.

Luineth (Ruin): An empty shell with no floors and onlyrubble inside. The stair underground is blocked but re-sourceful explorers could descend through the lift shaft toa basically intact underground. The Portal north to Ganethis functional but the door is locked from the foyer side.

Brinneth (Ruin): A few blocks and a foundation; the restwas hauled away to be used in houses and other structures.There is no access to the underground section, and bothPortals are inoperable anyway.

Lenneth: Inhabited by a Rhakhaan garrison. The secret en-trance to the Portal passage has not been discovered.

Ineth: Inhabited by a Rhakhaan garrison. The secret entranceto the Portal passage has not been discovered.

Gheneth: Inhabited by a Rhakhaan garrison. The secret en-trance to the Portal passage has not been discovered.