Host Tower of the Arcane

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Revision as of 21:19, 18 August 2026 by Wvaske (talk | contribs) (Fix elapsed time: the curse was broken about two weeks after the party's first visit, not months)
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Host Tower of the Arcane

The Host Tower of the Arcane is the seat of the Arcane Brotherhood in Luskan, a roughly 300-foot tower of dark stone rising from an island in the River Mirar. Recently rebuilt, it is where Deez Nuts gathered the intelligence that launched their search for Maccath the Crimson — and where, weeks later, the blood-red coin curse on Luskan was finally broken.

Overview

The Host Tower had been ruined for nearly a century after a dragon attack destroyed it (the event that gave Luskan's Dragon Beach its name). In the aftermath a power-mad wizard seized the ruin and raised undead there; only recently did the Arcane Brotherhood return, drive out the undead, and rebuild the tower to reclaim it. Its interior is hung with tapestries depicting magical discoveries rather than battles.

When the party returned in Session 51, the reconstruction looked suspiciously advanced for two weeks' work — fueled, it turned out, by the corrupting drive of the 2,400 blood-red coins hoarded in the vault. During the corruption the compromised Zelene had unknowingly recalled all 42 of the Brotherhood's regional mages to the tower — the coins gathering guards for their hoard.

The Vault

Described and breached in Session 51:

  • A 20-by-40-foot room shelved deep with the Brotherhood's treasures — staffs, rods, wands, armor, potions, and stacks of spellbooks.
  • Teleportation IN is possible via a shared imprint of the interior; the vault blocks all outbound teleportation.
  • The door is a roughly one-minute ritual that (as of S51) only Zelene can perform — the sole exit.
  • Sending stones work through the vault walls.

It was here that Karma's Flaming Sphere melted the final 2,400 red coins (Shade, Baelgrum, and Karma having teleported in via Zelene's imprint), releasing the largest psychic pulse of the crisis and breaking the coin-curse city-wide, instantly.

Role in Campaign

In the first sitting of Session 47 (2026-02-01), the party crossed to the Host Tower and met the mage Zelene, who detailed Maccath the Crimson's disappearance into the Sea of Moving Ice and the Brotherhood's two lost search parties. The Brotherhood sold the party cold-weather magic "at cost" and arranged a buy-back for their return.

In Session 51 the tower was both patient and cure: the seat of the corrupted Brotherhood, the storehouse of the largest red-coin hoard, and finally the site of the melt that freed the city. In the aftermath the Brotherhood pledged genuine support — mages dispatched to Waterdeep for the Council of Waterdeep — and Maccath the Crimson remained a few days to write up her dragon and Draakhorn research before traveling south.

Notable NPCs

  • Zelene – Brotherhood mage who briefed the party; corrupted → cured → committed ally
  • Maccath the Crimson – Brotherhood researcher lost in the north, since recovered; writing up her research here

Appearances

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