Editing The Third Eye (section)

====Vaults of the Arcane Tower====
The Third Eye traveled two days south of Hargrave towards the Arcane Tower, where they saw the full extent of the damage the curse did to the kingdom. The constant rainfall left the ground muddy, plants were overgrown, thorny vines and weeds choked out fields and gardens, and mutated creatures roamed the land. Their first stop was an inn at the crossroads to the tower, the Weary Ogre, whose chef was renowned as one of the best in the kingdom. Inside were clear signs of a fight, and the bodies of six guests bludgeoned to death on the floor. And then an entire kitchen's worth of undead, animated meat flew at them, attempting to bludgeon them to death. After dispatching all of the meat, they found the half-ogre proprietor, Ozar, in the wine cellar, where he'd been hiding since the meat spontaneously animated and attacked about a week ago. Leon suggested that this can't have been the weirdest thing to ever happen, being near the Arcane Tower. He said no, it was definitely the weirdest thing to ever happen, because the wizards of the tower were generally much more professional than that, and he would know, having studied there himself as transmuter before he decided he'd rather be a chef. Unfortunately, he didn't know about the current state of the Arcane Tower as he hadn't seen anyone from there since the curse began. But as thanks for saving his inn, he was happy to give them free rooms  and a good meal whenever they were passing through. 

In the morning they continued on. The farms within a few miles of the tower were full of decayed, overly-soggy plants. A few had lights on, though a disturbingly large number were dark. Finally, they arrived at the tower... Or, rather, where the tower should be. Instead they found a large, flat patch of bare earth, with a faint arcane circle still visible in it, and a trap door that had clearly been forced open. Isabelle, having been a member of the tower herself, recalled hearing that it was capable of plane shifting, and though she knew nothing about how it worked or where it would have gone, clearly the curse was deemed sufficient to do so. Through the trap door, a flight of stairs led to down to the vaults. At the bottom of the stairs was a tall pedestal with six circular indentations on top.  On the front was a long inscription proclaiming it to be a planar lock created by Master Arlen the Constructor under orders from King Tarn Hargrave. It could be activated by the six torcs of the tower, entrusted to the king's loyal Lawgivers throughout the kingdom. Sylas interpreted this as the means by which the tower had been transported away.

Looking around, of the four storage room doors, three stood closed; the fourth had been destroyed by something very large tunneling through the walls to lay a large egg in the central chamber; Leon identified it as a bulette egg, laid only within the last few days. The component storage room had been mostly destroyed by the bulette, which had also damaged the arcane circle connected to the pedestal. They found nothing interesting in the depository, but in the golem part storage room Leon found a manual on how to make a clay golem. The archives were mostly full of old academic records, textbooks, attendance sheets, and other boring, mundane paperwork, but Sylas did find a reference to something called the "Dark Star Parchment," said to be written in a dark celestial language and containing an unknown command phrase, that had been recovered by Master Arlen the Constructor himself several centuries ago. The entry was circled in red with the word "STOLEN" next to it. Though not relevant to their current problem, he made a note of it for later.

The last room was the sealed vault, though the vault door had clearly been forced open. Inside was a huge wardrobe made out of bright red wood, its surface covered with runes, wrapped with a heavy chain and padlock. Isabelle identified it as being made from a rare tree from the Abyss, and that the runes - written in Abyssal - were part of a magical formula similar to a gate spell. The chain and lock, while sturdy, were mundane. Knowing that the tower was in another plane, they decided that this must be the means for reaching it. After picking the lock, they all stood back while Isabelle magically opened the wardrobe. The runes suddenly glowed bright red, and the doors slammed open as a torrent of water flooded out, knocking Ilara and Leon off their feet. The water slammed the vault door closed, then ripped it off its hinges entirely and hurled it into Ilara. As this foul, putrid water flooded out, so did a trio of dretches. Sylas burst them all with a blast of psychic energy, and then Leon polymorphed Ilara into a giant ape so she could push against the flow of water and close it again. They were left with no doubt, now, that where this wardrobe led was a flooded layer of the Abyss. Sylas, still convinced that it was the means of reaching the tower, tried to think of a way to survive the flow, but Isabelle talked him down by noting that if the tower plane shifted away from the curse, they wouldn't have plane shifted to a dangerous plane like the Abyss.

After spending several hours inspecting the bulette's tunnel, only to discover it ended in a cave-in, they finally returned to the surface where Isabelle inspected the arcane circle in the dirt and confirmed it was filled with runes linked to the [[Astral Sea]]. They decided that their next course of action would be to ask around at the surrounding farms to see if anyone knew anything that might help them find a way to reach the tower. One farmer told them the last time the tower disappeared was almost seventy years ago when the blue dragon Malzdreziret attacked Hargrave; it plane shifted back in after the king drove the dragon away. One of the children told them another wizard was staying at a different farmhouse. Inquiring there, they met Rowan Caltheryan, an apprentice who had been out gathering reagents when the curse struck, and returned to find the tower gone. Having studied the tower's plane shifting abilities, he understood what had happened, and trusted that Master Zaophas had good reasons for activating the plane shift.

Though hesitant to countermand Zaophas's actions, even for a fellow wizard of the tower, once the group explained that they needed Zaophas to remove the curse from the crown to break the curse afflicting the kingdom, he agreed to tell them what he knew. The pedestal in the vaults, and the six torcs that were keyed to it, was not a means of transporting the tower into the Astral Sea, but of forcibly recalling it back to the Material Plane. The six torcs, having been given to important allies of the king, should still be somehwere in the kingdom. In, fact, he had a lead on one of them - about a week and a half ago he saw a group of bandits - a rogue, a bard, a wizard, and an ogre barbarian - break into the vault. When they emerged, he spotted their leader wearing what he knew must be the iron torc of the tower. The bandits then left in the direction of the Weary Ogre. Rowan also told them of a wizard named Aubilor Whitegate, who had been expelled by Master Zaophas several years ago for stealing an ancient parchment from the library, and might have more information. He marked Aubilor's workshop on their map, near the town of Gorso. Rowan told them that if they returned with the torcs, he would help repair the arcane circle that had been broken by the bulette in order to recall the tower. Until then, he would stay and protect the farmers.

At the Weary Ogre, Ozar confirmed that he did see the bandits Rowan described; sensing their ill intent, he sent them away, but heard them say something about "Ronul's End", a harbor to the northwest, as they departed. That night, they compared their notes, including the details of the inscription, to determine where they needed to search:
*The mithril torc of the tower was given to Peklyo Tassadir, Lawgiver of Hargrave. Suddenly remembering the torc they had taken from Queen Aphinah, they inspected it further and found the Arcane Tower's emblem upon it, and gave it to Isabelle for safekeeping.
*The iron torc of the tower was given to Jwarlea Jyle, Lawgiver of Smokestone. This was the torc Rowan had identified as being held by the bandits who raided the vault, now on their way to Ronul's End.
*The adamantine torc of the tower was given to Onrryl Blackbone, Lawgiver of Harveston.
*The silver torc of the tower was given to Agratthys Vuelnor, Lawgiver of Gorso.
*The clay torc of the tower was given to Lord Eard Wytas "Dragonfriend" Arden, Lawgiver of the Kingswood.
*The stone torc of the tower was given to Kalnur "Rockheart" Nangrath, Lawgiver of Nangrath.