THe Tower of Braydon Greybeard
by Darren Dare

Adventurers who arrive at Braydon’s tower wishing an audience with the magician may be disappointed. Braydon will only see strangers 30% of the time. If he refuses to see them it is because he is engaged in other activities or studies. PC’s may make an appointment to see the wizard at a later date if they choose. PC’s will be greeted at the door by a black-robed figure of slim build and medium height. The figure’s face will be completely hidden from view by a low, dark hood. The figure will actively avoid letting PC’s get a look under his cowl, even to the point of turning it’s back on the nosy individual. The figure is Zetharin Amphenomi, Braydon’s Drow apprentice. (Zetharin is fully detailed in Area P.) Zetharin will lead PC’s that Braydon agrees to see into a sitting room (Area A). In a soft, but rasping voice, he will offer the visitors wine or ale, which will be brought to them by a permanent unseen servant. He will then ask them to wait patiently and will disappear to fetch his master.

A. Sitting Room

This sizable chamber is lit by a dark red glow from two brass braziers in the corners of the room. It is not warm here, but the glowing coals do remove the dampness often associated with stone constructions. In the center of the chamber is a large rectangular carpet, it’s intricate weave and beautiful patterns possibly that of Amnish or Calashite design. At one corner of the carpet sits a plush couch. Made of some dark wood and plain material, it is simple yet inviting.

Across from the couch is a high-backed wing chair with black upholstery. No doubt the seat used by Braydon himself. Beside it sits a small brass stand on which rests a pipe and a tray of assorted tobacco. Your attention is drawn behind the chair to the wall beyond where a large mosaic tapestry hangs. The hanging depicts a wizard, presumably Braydon, in combat with a great green dragon. The dragon hovers of the magician in an aerial show of force. Bolts of lightning emanating from the wizards fingers strike the wyrm in the side of its great head. The stitching is excuisitevly done and obviously the result of many months of hard work.

After a brief period of time, Braydon will enter from the northwestern door dressed in a light blue robe with red trim. The wizard will be clean-shaven, but his gray hair extends halfway down his back from under a low brimmed hat. Braydon is in his early sixties and has seen quite a lot in his days. His arcane knowledge is great and surpassed by few. One of his closest friends is Vanderdahast of Cormyr.

Braydon will greet visitors with a nod as he enters. He will sit in his chair and immediately stoke his pipe. He will lean back, and after taking a few ling puffs, will ask as to the PC’s business. The players may ask any questions they may have for the old mage. If the party contains a mage, Braydon will offer his services for a fee of 200gp/ level/ week spent in training.

Braydon Greybeard    (19th Level Mage)

B. Storage Room

A wall sconce holding a half-burned torch has been bolted to the far wall of this chamber. Braydon lights this torch whenever he enters here looking for supplies. Most of the time though, he sends Zetharin for what he desires. This conserves the torch for the drow does not require the light.

Piled within the room are crates, bags, barrels and boxes of assorted materials ranging from simple foodstuffs, to packed and long-forgotten pieces of furniture. A long shelf unit upon one wall holds various bottles and flasks of substances that Braydon has collected over the years. Sand from the Calim Desert and water from the run-off of the Great Glacier are just a few of the examples.

C. Kitchen

A fire pit lies in the center of this small chamber, spanned by a sizable spit. The walls are lined with shelves filled with jars and containers full of spices and herbs. There is also a separate shelf that holds a variety of pots, pans and other cooking utensils.

Braydon spends a lot of his spare time here, as he is an accomplished cook. He is always experimenting with new recipes for wild fowl and game, much to the dislike of Zetharin who has always had difficulties adjusting to the tastes of surface-dwellers.

D. Foyer

This chamber provides access to the tower’s second floor. It is sparsely furnished, containing only one wooden chair. Below the stairs sits a lifelike stone statue of Braydon himself. This sculpture was a gift from a dwarven artisan many years ago in gratitude for ridding a dwarven mine of a rather troublesome umber hulk.

The stone stairway spirals up fifteen feet to the next floor, emerging in Area F.

E. Dining Room

Bathed in the glow of two burning braziers, this chamber is both cozy and warm. Two of the walls have been hung with light blue tapestries, which hang from ceiling to floor. This adds a welcome change from the look of plain gray stone. In the center of the chamber is a long oak table, polished to an almost mirror-like finish. Four high-backed chairs surround it, also crafted from polished oak.

F. Second Floor Sitting Room

The stairs from Area D emerge here and are surrounded by a low stone railing. The chamber contains only a low, round table and three comfortable-looking chairs for sitting. No tapestries or paintings decorate the walls, in fact, no other decorative additions are present except for two brass braziers filled with glowing red coals.

G. Upper Storage Room

This small room is used to store extra supplies, which are of use in the laboratory (Area H) and the other chambers on the upper floors. It is presently empty.

H. Laboratory

A stone slab table occupies the center of this chamber. Its surface is stained by years of spills and mishaps that have turned the stone a grayish pink hue. Upon the table is a multitude of apparatus. Beakers, vials, containers, flasks, carafes, test tubes and bottles of all sizes are just some of the items located here. This scene is mirrored upon a bookshelf against the wall, where hundreds of chemicals and powders are stored in plainly labeled glass containers.

Amongst the many vials upon the shelf, Braydon has stored three potions: an elixir of health, a potion of levitation, and a potion of flying.

I. Library

The library contains no light source of it’s own. Braydon brings a candle here or uses a light spell whenever he visits this chamber. With so much paper present, fire is always a great concern.

The shelves are lined with a multitude of librams and tomes. Several of the books are personal diaries of Braydon’s or textbooks from his younger days as an apprentice. Also present are dictionaries for an assortment of languages ranging from elvish to a small pocket-sized tome on the hobgoblin dialect. There are numerous encyclopedias on a multitude of topics, including fungi, animal lore and astrology.

Among the volumes are two spell books. The first is a large tome made from two thin layers of slate covered by alligator hide and latched with an intricate brass latch. It contains the following spells: magic missile, sleep, audible glamour, haste, slow, levitate, fly, Rary’s Mneumonic Enhancer, fireball, ice storm, conjure earth elemental and enchant an item. There are also two blank pages.

The second is a small leather-bound traveling book, one hand-width wide and one-and-a-half hand-widths high. It contains the following spells: burning hands, shocking grasp, jump, knock, shield, mount, lightning bolt, haste, slow, continual light, and dig. There are five blank pages.

J, Reading Room

A long, low table with three chairs occupies this chamber. The room is well lit by three braziers that stand in each of the corners. These devices also keep the room warm and comfortable. Stone stairs spiral upwards fifteen feet to the tower’s third floor where the living quarters are located.

K. Foyer

The stairway emerges here from the second floor into a basically empty room. Two braziers supply enough light to see by, but nothing more. Upon the wall is a beautiful tapestry of spun silk, depicting the great elven city of Myth Drannor in its entire splendor. The colors are breathtaking and the realism is incredible, almost to the point of believing it to be a window on the past.

L. Braydon's Bedchamber

The door to this chamber, as well as the secret door to area 17m, is protected by a symbol spell. If either door is touched without first uttering the proper password, the trespasser will immediately fall asleep and will be unable to be awakened for 1d12+4 turns.

A single burning brazier in one corner lights this large lavish bedchamber. Occupying almost an entire wall is a magnificent canopy bed. The bed is fashioned from oak and is intricately carved into patterns of mounted knights and dragons. An extraordinarily embroidered comforter graces the bed made of silk, as is the canopy and bed shirt.

Beside the bed is a small one-drawer nightstand on which sits a pewter candlestick. The only other furniture in the room is a desk and chair near the narrow window. The desk is clean of papers or other debris but it does have one drawer.

There is really nothing of interest in the bedchamber except for a potion of gaseous form within the drawer of the nightstand and a scroll of two fly spells located in the desk. Braydon’s real treasures are beyond the secret door.

M. Secret Closet

This small secret chamber is where Braydon stores all of his cherished belongings and magical treasures. All that is visible here is a large steel chest locked with a large padlock and a chest-high wooden pedestal. The pedestal is home to a massive leather-bound book. The book is engraved with assorted runes and sigils along its border and binding, as well as a large sigil centered upon its front cover. This is Braydon’s master spell book, and the sigil upon its cover is his personal mark.

The Mark of Braydon Greybeard

The book is protected by a firetrap spell that will deliver 1-4+19 hps of damage to any individual who does not speak the sigil’s name “fah” before touching it. A successful save vs. fire indicates ½ damage.

Braydon’s spell book contains the following spells:

1st level: Affect normal fires, audible glamour, burning hands, change self, charm person, dancing lights, enlarge, erase, feather fall, gaze reflection, identify, jump, know school, magic missile, message, phantasmal force, shield, spider climb, wall of fog, wizard mark, unseen servant.

2nd level: Agannazar’s Scorcher, alter self, bind, blindness, cloak from undead, continual light, darkness 15’ radius, deepockets, detect evil, E.S. P., flaming sphere, ghost pipes, invisibility, know alignment, knock, levitate, magic mouth, Melf’s Acid Arrow, rope trick, spectral hand, stinking cloud, summon swarm, vocalize, web, wizard lock.

3rd level: Alacrity, augmentation I, blink, clairvoyance, dispel magic, far reaching I, fireball, flame arrow, haste, hold person, infravision, lightning bolt, minor malison, skull watch, suggestion, tongues, water breathing, wraithform.

4th level: Charm monster, dig, dimension door, emotion, enervation, extension I, Evard’s Black Tentacles, far reaching II, fire charm, firetrap, ice storm, locate creature, magic mirror, mask of death, minor creation, missile mastery, phase trap, polymorph self, remove curse, spectral wings, thunderstaff, wall of fire, wizard eye.

5th level: Airy water, cloudkill, contact other plane, dismissal, domination, dream, far reaching III, hold monster, magic jar magic staff, mind fog, passwall, sending, Snilloc’s Major Missile, teleport, wall of iron, wall of stone.

6th level: Anti-magic shell, chain lightning, conjure animals, contingency, death spell, eyebite, geas, legend lore, mislead, move earth, part water, power word: silence, project image, repulsion, teleport dead, true seeing, veil.

7th level: Charm plants, gemjump, limited wish, phase door, prismatic spray, reverse gravity, shadow cat, spectral guard, spelltrap, spell turning, teleport without error, The Simbul’s Synostodwoemer, vision.

8th level: Airboat, Bigby’s Clenched Fist, clone, gateway, great shout, mass charm, mind blank, permanency, polymorph any object, screen, spell engine, symbol, trap the soul.

9th level: Astral spell, elemental aura, foresight, meteor swarm, power word: kill, shape change, succor, time stop, wail of the banshee, weird, wish, and worldwalk.

The book contains no blank pages and measures four hand-widths wide, fifteen hand-widths high and two hand-widths thick. The chest is also trapped with a fire trap spell to keep out unwanted thieves (damage: 1-4+19, save for ½). Within the chest are three glass vials, which contain potion of extra-healing, invisibility, and water breathing respectively. Also within the chest, rolled up within a small piece of fine silk, is a wand of fireballs, with 24 charges remaining, a figurine of wondrous power (onyx dog) and a cloak of the bat. Lastly, the chest holds a large sac tied up by a leather thong, containing 385 Harbor Moons from Waterdeep.

N. Apprentice's Bedchamber

Presently unoccupied, this room is used as a spare bedchamber for those times when Braydon decides to spend the time and effort in teaching a new student the ways of the art. The chamber is well-furnished with a small bed for sleeping, a footlocker for personal belongings and a desk for private study. Beside the bed is a night table with a single drawer, upon which sits a pewter candlestick. A shelf unit rests against one wall for texts and tomes but is presently empty. In one corner sits a single brass brazier perched upon a cast iron stand. Everything to make a young apprentice feel right at home.

If a PC mage seeks training with Braydon, this will be his room while he follows his studies.

P. Zetharin's Bedchamber

This sizable room resembles the apprentice’s bedchamber next door, with the exception of a lived-in appearance. All of the furnishings in the two rooms are basically identical in both construction and appearance. The only major difference between the two is the addition of a narrow window. Although the window would undoubtedly add more light to the chamber, it has been shuttered and covered with a dark curtain to protect the room’s occupant from the daylight.

This is Zetharin’s bedchamber. He spends most of his daylight hours here, preferring to work and study during the darker night hours. Zetharin has been a loyal friend and apprentice to Braydon for ten years now and the magician has learned to trust him implicitly. This may prove to be Braydon’s greatest mistake.

Braydon discovered the drow one winter night. Starved and practically frozen solid, he was dressed in nothing more than a thin cotton robe. Braydon took him in and slowly nursed him back to health. It was then that the drow related his story to the magician.

It seems that Zetharin had always had his doubts as to the ways of life that the drow followed, as well as their beliefs. For many years he kept his secret to himself. Until the time came when he refused to take part in a ritual sacrifice involving his new brother, the youngest son. His family turned on him, and in a violent battle, he slew two of his sisters with his magic. He then fled into the Underdark. Zetharin traveled the natural tunnels and passageways for several months before immerging among the Thunderpeaks.

He ventured out onto the surface, but was caught in a vicious winter storm. Braydon found him soon after.

Unknown to Braydon, all but the last part of Zetharin’s story is false. The drow was caught in a winter storm that night, but he did not wander upon Braydon by accident. Zetharin purposely met Braydon in an attempt to befriend Braydon and gain his confidence.

The drow is really not a drow at all. Zetharin Amphenomi is actually Chiaroscuro, a venerable Deep Dragon.

Zetharin Amphenomi \ Chiaroscuro   (As Drow - 9th Level Mage)

Zetharin/ Chiaroscuro will always remain in drow form unless his life is in danger. The dragon will prefer to then flee rather than stand and fight. When in dragon form Chiaroscuro has the following powers and additional attack forms:

Breath weapon: Corrosive gas in a cone 50’ long, 40’ wide, and 30’ high (save vs. breath weapon for ½). If affected creatures have exposed skin the save is made at -2. Cloth, metal, and wood are not affected. Leather however, is treated as dry exposed skin. Damage is equal to 20d8+10.

PCs in combat with Chiaroscuro save against all of his dragon attacks at -2 due to his age category. This includes his fear aura that affects all creatures in a forty-foot radius that are below the dragon’s Hit Dice in levels (save vs. metrification at -2). Those failing are stricken with fear and fight at -2 to their attack and damage rolls.

Being a venerable dragon, Chiaroscuro also has these additional attacks, providing he has the space required to use them.
     Snatch, kick, wing-buffet and tail slap (these attacks are explained in detail in the Monstrous Compendium un “Dragon, General”).

In both dragon and drow form Zetharin/ Chiaroscuro may cast the following spells at 19th level of ability once per day:

     Mage: Magic Missile, burning hands, detect undead, wall of fog, continual darkness, web, blind, slow, lightning bolt and ice storm.
    Priest: Cure light wounds, cause light wounds and prayer.

As a Deep Dragon, Chiaroscuro also has these additional powers:

• Immune to charm, sleep and hold spells.
• Detect magic ability at will.
• True seeing
• Immune to extremes of heat and cold (-3 on each die of damage taken, to a minimum of 1hp/ die)
• Assume snake form (q.v.) or bipedal form 4 / day.
• Free action at will.
• Regenerate 1-4 hp/ 4 rounds.
• Levitate 3/ day (usable in combination with free action).
• Transmute rock to mud and telekinesis 3/ day.
• Move earth 3/ day.
• Passwall 3/ day and disintegration (non-living matter) 2/ day.

Zetharin/ Chiaroscuro, as well as having his dragon defenses and attacks, possesses a few additional magic items, which he uses while in drow form. Around his neck on a braided gold chain he wears an amulet of proof against detection and location. As well as this, upon his left hand he wears a i. These prevent any unwanted probing of his true identity by wary opponents. Around his waist on a plain leather sash he wears a dagger +2 and tucked within the folds of his cloak he carries a wand of negation with 39 charges remaining. This last item he intends to use against Braydon when the time is right. The command word is “disperse” and is engraved in Undercommon on the base of the wand.

Q. Access Room

An iron ladder bolted to the wall leads upwards to a three-foot wide trap door that allows access to the roof. The trap door may be bolted from above or below.

If Zetharin/ Chiaroscuro is in need of escape he will flee onto the roof via this door, revert to dragon form, and flee.

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