Gebeynturn
"I do not fear the memory of the battle, no more than any other man. I do not cower from the curse that came upon all of us, when we left so many of our brethren unburied on the field, staggering home. I have made attonement and peace with this. But thinking of the Gebeynturn, that absuridty of dark magic and bones? Now that scares me."
The Gebeynturn, (literally "Tower of Bones") is a large and infamous structure standing in the center of the Teutanes Forest at the very location of the decisive battle between the Germanen and the Isanmannen Empire. The structure is large enough to be seen from several kilometers afar, towering largely over the tallest trees of the forest. Some people claim to be able to see the twisted structure from high places in Troumwarft, almost a hundred kilometres away, roughly five days worth of travel by foot.
This tower is said to be the lair of the dark conjurer of the dead, the Darkbringer Terves Boneshield. He resides there even before Wotan's Call released magic upon the world. Since then, the already haunted region was reportedly transformed and twisted by his dark magic.
Brief History
A few decades ago, the decisive battle in the Teutanes Forest took place at this very spot, burning down a partially build military tower. The remnants of the victorious but heavily wounded Germanen left with only being able to take some of their fallen with them.
After the fighting, a lone soldier stayed back and lived as a hermit in the now cursed woods. He was rumored to tend after the dead, regardless which side they fought for reasons only known to himself. For the first years, former warriors would come to visit and honor the fallen they had to left behind. Still, the hermit kept for himself.
When the magical turmoil of Wotan's Call happened, he became apparently insane, transforming the ruinous structure into the bone tower. It rose high enough to loom over the highest trees, visible from many kilometers away.
The twisted magic started to affect the lands around the tower as well. The few merchants that dared to travel within the vicinity of the tower tell stories of darkened patches of land and some dark shimmer swirling through the air. Most of the travel through this forest stopped, after a heavily guarded caravan vanished without a trace.
Since then, no living being ever claimed believably to have returned from this cursed place.
Approaching the tower
Now coming closer is the real scary deal. marching through a swamp with dead bodies, some of them appear to rise up. some of these trees simply do not LOOK right. and the tower ... Dark, fire-scarred walls, topped off by bones. so many, many bones all over it.
Human bones!
The entrance area is surrounded by half-buried dead bodies, although weirdly arranged in a circle around the tower. Dark energy seeps out of the tower, twisting and transforming the reality around it, turning it darker and malicious but still avoiding the living beings.
The wide stone base of the tower is topped off with at least three windowless stories, build with giant wooden beams filled in between with clay, straw and bones held together by tar.
Circling around the outer wall of the tower is a row of long, engraved bones adorned with warding runes of defense and durability, warding the tower and holding it upright through their magic. There is no door, but the entryway is again engraved with runes unknown to most Mannen.
Through the entryway you see mostly darkness. The little light illuminates upright standing bodies and some shadows. always in the corner of your eye. Are these just shadows made by your torch? Are those bodies simply some armor on a stand, decorating the entrance? Are the bones maybe just there to protect from evil, not create it? You could only find out by stepping into the tower. But as far as you know, so far noone has come out again.
Type
Tower, Mage
Parent Location
I am sure, Wotan's call turned him insane and he now dabbles with dark magic for the giants. The Asen will punish him surely.
As I heard, he forced the undead bodies of the fallen to do his bidding, building his tower. Only to use their bones as filling material!
You know, why he still lives there? Within the tower is a portal to the realm of the darkness where the giants reside, I heard.
Half-buried bodies! Oh my! Are carrion eaters attracted to this or are they reluctant to go near the tower too? (Also I love your pattern of articleblocks and quotes in the sidebar there!)