The Tower

Nobody built the tower. Or if they did, nobody saw it happen.

It appeared in what had been unremarkable wilderness — no roads, no settlements, no reason for anyone to pay attention. Then one morning it was there: a stone spire, modest from the outside, standing as if it had always existed. No scorch marks on the earth. No foundation stones. No construction debris. Just a tower, a door, and silence.

The first explorers who entered found halls and chambers far larger than the exterior suggested. Staircases wound downward past rooms that couldn't possibly fit inside the structure they'd walked into. The architecture was old — impossibly old, some said — but well-preserved, as if someone had been maintaining it moments before the first visitor arrived.

Below the constructed floors, the stonework gives way to natural rock. Carved corridors become caverns. And then the caverns open into something else entirely.

The Rumors

Every regular at Threshold's tavern has a theory about who built the tower and why.

The most popular explanation is that a powerful sorcerer is responsible — though no one agrees on their name, their appearance, or their motives. Some say the tower is a test, designed to find the worthy. Others call it a trap, built to lure the ambitious to their doom. A few optimists insist it's a gift: an endless source of wealth and wonder, left for anyone brave enough to claim it.

Other theories heard around the tavern

• The tower grew on its own, like a crystal forming in the earth
• It was always there, but hidden, and something broke the concealment
• It was pushed up from below by whatever lives in the Abyss
• It fell from the sky and buried itself on impact
• A god lost a bet

None of these theories have been confirmed. The tower offers no answers, only more stairs going down.

What Lies Within

The upper floors feel designed. Hallways connect to chambers. Stairs descend in spirals. There are rooms that might have been studies, armories, or living quarters — though they're never quite the same between visits. Adventurers who map a floor and return the next day find the layout has shifted.

Below the constructed levels, the architecture dissolves into raw stone. The transition is gradual — a carved archway opens into a natural cave, a flagstone floor gives way to packed earth — until the tower stops pretending to be a building at all.

And then the Abyss begins.