Beacon
Lighthouse Upper Landing
Read to Players
“The top landing of the lighthouse is a dizzying display of magic. The walls are glass — windows looking out over the bay and ocean in every direction. The floor is made with long wooden planks that run the whole length of the room. And there, in the middle of the room, is a podium of sorts, some magical stone atop it, glowing brightly with that warm orange and yellow light — so bright that your eyes have to adjust to be able to look that direction. In front of it, between it and the window overlooking the bay, is a thin crystal. The light from the stone magnifies through it, focusing through the glass and out into the fog. But that isn't the only magic in the room. One entire wall is marked with deep grooves, lines reaching all around the wall, connecting at circles and changing directions. In the groove, halfway between two circles, is a light glowing — as if a miniature sun is traversing the groove from circle to circle. And as you watch, you see that it is moving. Counter clockwise. Right to left on the upper groove.”
DM Notes
At least three mages are always present in the upper landing, monitoring the light, adjusting the crystal, and keeping track of the light on the wall. Visitors are rarely allowed to the top of the stairs to see inside. They are never allowed inside the room with the crystal and lens.
• The grooved wall is a navigation chart — the moving light tracks something in the bay or on the water, though the mages are not forthcoming about what. The counter-clockwise motion may be significant. What it's tracking, and why it moves the direction it does, is yours to decide.