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Date: Thu, 17 May 2001 18:54:11 -0000
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From: Peter Ouimette <peter_ouimette@HOTMAIL.COM>
Subject: [GREYTALK] Does Rary control GToI?
To: GREYTALK@MITVMA.MIT.EDU

Officially, does Rary control the Ghost Tower of Inverness? And/or just
the Area around it? I'm pretty sure the truly horrible module _Rary the Traitor_ said something to this effect. However, he can't actually
access the tower without the four keys, if I remember correctly.

Details anyone?

Cross-posted to greyhawk-l because the list is slow... _________________________________________________________________________
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Date: Fri, 18 May 2001 15:30:14 EDT
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From: Gary Welsh <GaryWelsh1@AOL.COM>
Subject: [GREYTALK] Ghost Tower of Inverness/Ideas
To: GREYTALK@MITVMA.MIT.EDU

C2 blows. I never DM'ed it, but I played in it about 15 years ago. The only thing it has going for it is the "nostalgia factor" and some pretty cool illustrations (Jeff Dee's umber hulk, Willingham's medusa, Erol Otus' firebat...).

The module itself is written in the old "competition-style" that never
really caught on, with all that tournament-play scoring. The Ghost Tower
itself is a hodgepodge of monsters and ideas, thrown together like some
kind of lame AD&D gumbo. It has some of the worst dungeon stereotypes
ever... a chessboard room, randomly appearing monsters, an
ultra-powerful wizard behind it all, a final threat that is arbitrarily super-deadly and can be defeated by nothing more complex than hacking,
etc. Kind of boring.

I would run a different module, or else do a serious revamping of C2.
You may want to keep some of the elements of the Ghost Tower, and alter
it to make more sense (or to seem less stereotypical and inane). Here
are a few ideas, that I've had for a while, if I wanted to do my own
"version" of it:

LEGEND OF THE GHOST TOWER

FOR THE PLAYERS: The Tower of Inverness was destroyed centuries ago. But recently, it has reappeared where it once stood, seemingly whole once again. People who have ventured near to it, have seen thick purplish mists around
its base, and the tower itself seemed wavering or transparent -- as if it
were fading in and out of existence. It is as if the tower itself were a
ghost, returning out of the past.
The Seer of Urnst knows the legend of the tower. He knew that once it housed a terrible artifact, known as the Soul Gem. The master of Inverness
used the Soul Gem to defeat his enemies and terrorize people for miles
around. But then one day, the master of the tower disappeared, and in time people acquired the courage to besiege and destroy the place. This was centuries ago, and the Soul Gem was never found or recovered. It was assumed that it was taken when the master disappeared. Now, the Seer of Urnst has
used divinations to try to pierce the veil of mystery that surrounds the
Ghost Tower, and he has seen that the Soul Gem is indeed inside the place...
It has returned.

FOR THE DM: The Ghost Tower exists partly in the Ethereal Plane, and
partly in the Material Plane. It is made of matter that seems to waver
between stone and iron, and a semi-solid ectoplasmic stuff. The Soul Gem
is filled with many, many souls, some of which have been released and
roam the Ghost Tower and the lands about. The power of the Soul Gem has
rebuilt the Tower of Inverness on the Ethereal Plane. In their madness,
the ghosts in the Tower believe they are still alive and living in their
own place and time. Most of the ghosts have no idea that they are not
dead. The force of their belief is what is causes the illusions that the
PC's encounter throughout the Tower. The anchor of all of this is the
Soul Gem. It is what anchors the ghosts together -- they are only
partially free to move around, still bound by the power of the Gem.

There are different angles to work with the ghosts. The ghosts might
possess people and act the way they did when they were alive. Ghosts may
go about their business, unaware of the PC's. Or, they may talk to the
PC's as if it were a different time period. Inside the Tower, the ghosts
can appear as real and solid as mortals, and in some cases cannot be
Turned. Below are a few of the surreal encounters, as they move through
the Ghost Tower:

1. The doors open, to reveal a impossibly huge ball-room. Men and women
dance about, while musicians play lyres and flutes in a corner. On a
dais, a lord and a lady sit on thrones, watching the ball. The way the
people are dressed is from a style from six centuries ago. They are, in
fact, the entire court of a minor fiefdom on the border of the Bright
Desert and Urnst. Galap-Dreidel used the Soul Gem to trap all of their
souls, all in one night, simply because of some minor offense they had
done to him. The ghosts in the ballroom do not know they are dead. They
think they are still at a ball. When the PC's enter, they may have a
hard time getting anyone's attention. When they do, they will be led to
the lord and lady. "Ah, foreigners -- the lord will wish to speak to
you. He will want word of how the war is going." The lord will ask them
how the battle is going between Nyrond and Aerdy. He is referring to the
Battle of a Fortnight's Length. Of course, he says, Nyrond will prove
the victor, and then it will become the Great Kingdom of the Flanaess.

2. A wild-eyed man approaches the adventurers, telling them to be
silent. He tells them he knows what the wizard is doing. He is capturing people, and imprisoning their souls in a huge magical gemstone. He
thinks he is being pursued by the evil wizard's guards: bugbears. He
offers to join with the adventurers, to help them escape the Ghost
Tower. He is, in fact, a ghost himself, but does not know it. It may
come out that he is revealed as a ghost, when he talks to the PC's about
events out in the world. He is from the Kingdom of Pomarj, which was
overrun in the Hateful Wars (498-510 CY). PC's may gather that he thinks
it is around 250 CY, when he refers to the Viceroyalty of Ferrond
rumored to be seceding from the Great Kingdom, or the Kingdom of Pomarj
worried about being annexed by Keoland.

3. The doors open to reveal an uncanny sight... a beach, palm trees, a
deep blue sea and a blazing orange and purple sunset in the sky. Here
are the ghosts of some Olman Islanders, who have recreated their
paradisical island, which is where they lived prior to being sucked into
the Soul Gem. It's not really much a a paradise, though, what with all
the prehistoric, aquatic predators.... Monsters: ixitxachitl,
pteranadon, dinichthys.

4. The doors open to reveal a river of fire, which is actually flowing
lava. All around are black peaks and basalt hills, rugged, smoking
mountains. The PC's find themselves on a ledge, overlooking the
crater-like opening on top of a live volcano. It is a recreation of a
part of the Hellfurnace Mountains. The most powerful ghost of all is
here, a Mage of Power from the Suloise Imperium. He is on an expedition
up in the Hellfurnaces from the time before the Rain of Colorless Fire,
and he was looking for something in the lair of fire giants. On this expedition, he was confronted by Galap-Dreidel and lost to him in a
duel, because of the Soul Gem. Monsters: Fire giant, firebats, Mage of
Power is accompanied by several Charmed su-monsters, who are his
lackeys.

NOTE: If the PC's can convince the Mage of Power that he is a ghost, and
is imprisoned by the Soul Gem, that may be the key to overcoming it. The
ghost of the dead sorcerer may be wise and powerful enough to help them
figure out how to free the souls from the Soul Gem. He may also realize
that, as a ghost, he does not have nearly the power he did in life, and
his powers to recreate the final environment he was in, in life stems
from the Soul Gem. Maybe he and the PC's figure out a way to use that to
their advantage.

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