Chapter #1199
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+ THE ADVENTURERS +
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+ Epic VI +
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+ Many of the locations, non-player characters, spells, and other +
+ terms used in these stories are the property of Wizards of the Coast +
+ which has in no way endorsed or authorized their use. Any such +
+ property contained within these stories are not representative of +
+ Wizards of the Coast in any fashion. +
+ The player characters depicted in these stories are copyright +
+ 1991-2026 by Thomas A. Miller. Any resemblance to any persons +
+ or characters either real or fictional is utterly coincidental. +
+ Copying and/or distribution of these stories is permissible under +
+ the sole condition that no money is made in the process. In that +
+ case, I hope you enjoy them! +
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+ Pallin 18th level grey elven wizard, teleporter +
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+ Date: 1/6/587 C.Y. (Common Year) +
+ Time: midmorning +
+ Place: the Brass Hills, within the Bright Desert +
+ Climate: warm and dry +
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+ "Are you working on something?" +
+ "Always." +
+ - from _The Old Guard 2_ +
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MCXCIX. A Stronghold Like No Other
While other members of the Bright Alliance have been busy with various
tasks and efforts, Pallin has stayed in the Brass Hills to focus on the
construction efforts in a small but crucial portion of the northeastern
tip of those hills...
CLOSE-UP VIEW OF THE NORTHEASTERN BRASS HILLS
(features and sites are not to scale)
1 hex = 10 leagues = 30 miles across ____
/ N
^^^^^ = hills / W+E
= desert (empty) / S
** = Bright Alliance's fortress /
(atop large flat plateau) /
## = new buildings/city/wall /
..... = new plains/farmland /
%% = ruins of Rary's tower /
_k_ = village/valley of Kalundi /
/
_________________________/
/ ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ \
/ ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ \ ...
/ ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^\___ ...
/ ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ \##\ ...
/ ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ **\##\ ...
/ ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ **\#/ ...
/^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ \
/^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^\ _k_
/^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^\ /
_/^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ \_________________________/
^\^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ /
^^\^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ /
^^^\^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ %% ^ /
^^^^\^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ /
^^^^^\^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ /
^^^^^^\^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ /
^^^^^^^\^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ /
^^^^^^^^\^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ /
^^^^^^^^^\^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ /
^^^^^^^^^^\^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^__/
^^^^^^^^^^/^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ \
^^^^^^^^^/^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ \
Specifically, Pallin's work had been concentrated in two main areas.
First was the fortress itself, built on a wide plateau atop a natural
rock platform. Two thousand feet long and a thousand wide, this pillar
was rectangular in shape; it was among the largest of hundreds of such
columns that jutted upward from the desert floor, each separated from
its neighbors by wide gaps. The nearest other such pillar was more than
two hundred feet from the fortress, a formidable gap - and future plans
called for the neighboring plateau to either be fortified or destroyed,
whichever was determined to best increase the security posture of the
fortress itself.
The stronghold stretched across the flat hilltop and overlooked the
second area under construction: the city beneath and to the east of the
of the fortress, built on the desert floor and itself facing yet another
project - the new grasslands which would one day provide crops and host
herds of livestock.
EXTREME CLOSE-UP VIEW OF THE NORTHEASTERN BRASS HILLS
(features and sites are not to scale)
/ 1 hex = 10 leagues = 30 miles across
/ ^^^^^ = hills
/ = desert (empty)
/ ** = Bright Alliance's fortress
/ (atop large flat plateau)
/ ## = new buildings/city/wall
/ ..... = new plains/farmland
/ %% = ruins of Rary's tower
/ _k_ = village/valley of Kalundi
____________________/
^^^^^^^^^^ \
^^^^^^^^^^^^^ \
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ \
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ \ ......
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ \ ......
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^____\_______ ......
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ \****\######\ .....
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ \****\######\ .....
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ \****\######\ .....
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ \**** ######\ .....
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ \****\#####/ .....
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ \****\###/ .....
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ \***_\#/ .....
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ \
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ \
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ \ _k_
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ \
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ \
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ \
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ \____________________
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ /
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ /
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ /
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ /
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ %% ^^^^ /
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ %% ^^^ /
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ /
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ /
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ /
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ /
This work had not been easy, although Pallin himself wasn't lifting raw
materials and moving them from place to place. For that he had his magic
as well as the might of multiple golems...and each of these things could
save hundreds of man-hours of time for regular laborers. A golem could
carry and place huge stone blocks, and work nonstop as it never tired or
required rest, food, or drink. If anything, the limitation was that of
whoever controlled it - in this case, Pallin. The elf had never set out
to be a builder of fortresses, cities, walls, or anything else; this duty
had fallen upon him with Cespedes' demise. Pallin was perpetually tired,
mentally and physically, as the long weeks and months of construction had
required substantial involvement on his part. However, the work needed to
get done, and as quickly as possible...and so he powered through and used
potions to augment his stamina and focus as both fortress and city grew
closer to completion with each passing day.
He had already figured out the most efficient way to direct the various
resources and get things built. The larger stone blocks (or other shaped
pieces) were picked up, carried to the appropriate place, and set down by
the golems. In the early days of the construction, Pallin had been the
one doing the directing for this...but he had very quickly learned that
even with his potions, he lacked the temperament to constantly oversee
such simple tasks. Accordingly, he had delegated control of the golems'
work to certain others as appropriate. The veteran dwarven builder Vogric
Stoneshaper would ensure that each such heavy piece was as it should be,
and then the entire process was repeated for the next block. Often, some
oddly-shaped chunk of stone first needed to be cut and smoothed into one
of these blocks, in which case a crew of masons would prepare it before
its eventual move into its final position. As the larger pieces were put
into place, workers would come behind with cement to seal the gaps and do
any other detail work. The overall initiative proceeded according to the
grand design of the elven architect Talathion Undiviel; he had long ago
shared all of his blueprints and specifications with Vogric so that they
could work out any issues or problems ahead of time. An immense amount
of planning and coordination was necessary for a project of this size and
complexity, and lesser individuals would have been overwhelmed...but those
brought in to design and build the Bright Alliance's stronghold were among
the best in the world at what they did.
The basic layout of both the upper fortress and lower city was similar:
a number of buildings were housed within a large outer wall. The city
rested at ground level - the same altitude as the desert beyond - and had
a footprint more than twice that of the fortress above. While there had
been some discussion about limiting its size at its inception, an actual
plan was preferable to uncontrolled sprawl...so while the initial city
would be enclosed by a massive wall, future growth could be accommodated
by the addition of new sections. In the short term, the first phase would
be more than enough to house all of the various craftsmen, establishments,
temples, troops, and others needed to get things started. The city, being
more vulnerable to a land attack than the fortress, had a higher wall...
one hundred feet high and thirty feet thick, its foundation composed of
massive stone slabs sunk into the desert floor and secured by magic and
the efforts of earth elementals. It was fortunate that a great deal of
work - mostly involving the upper and lower walls but also the foundation
of the city itself - had been completed while Cespedes was still there to
help. The wizard hadn't been the most sociable fellow, and some of his
motivations would forever remain unknown, but there was no denying the
unusual archmage's powers and knowledge in the realm of elementals and
the moving and reshaping of elements...particularly earth and stone. It
was likely that some of the methods and secrets of this construction had
been lost with Cespedes, despite the thorough analysis the other wizards
had conducted on all of his writings they could find.
The fortress atop the plateau was surrounded by a fifty-foot wall built
flush with the vertical edge of the massive stone column, which itself
rose three hundred feet above the desert floor. This combination - the
simple height plus the sheer vertical sides, from which the few potential
handholds had been removed - rendered the site physically unapproachable
by any conventional means, and made it substantially easier to defend.
The natural terrain advantage was exactly the reason that the wizards had
chosen this specific plateau: wide, flat, and isolated from the desert
floor below, it was an ideal site for a stronghold. None could approach
it directly, on foot or horseback; any who thought to try the impossible
climb would have to contend not only with gravity and a lack of handholds
but also spikes and other measures that had been installed...as well as
lookouts and magical methods of detecting intruders.
There was a single gap in the wall of the fortress atop its plateau,
which marked the connection to the city below: a zigzagging stone ramp
that went left, right, left again, right again, and so on as it led down
from fortress to city. This allowed the two to be connected, within the
overall boundary of their combined walls; in a time of dire crisis, the
massive ramp would allow evacuation from the city up into the fortress,
while the structure of the ramp made it easy to defend from above. There
was also a huge and sturdy gate at the top, measuring twenty feet high and
wide, that could be closed at such a time. However, a variety of powerful
magical defenses were planned for the future and would likely ensure that
no foes ever breached either the fortress or the connected city.
In case of a protracted battle or siege, both the city and the fortress
contained sizable storage areas for food and other supplies, as well as
deep cisterns to hold plenty of water in reserve. Even if the artificial
lake was somehow contaminated or destroyed, the defenders would be fine
for quite some time. A series of secure bunkers had also been cut into
the base of the plateau; these could hold many hundreds of people in the
event of some powerful attack that they would otherwise not survive.
Again, all of these measures were meant only as insurance against the
worst possible scenario...which would ideally be avoided due to the vast
powers and capabilities of the Bright Alliance's wizards and their allies.
Pallin: (resting for a bit, he sits in the air atop a comfortable chair
which he previously infused with the ability to move through the sky)
Hmm. (he surveys the fortress site, nodding to himself at the progress
there) Very good.
In addition to the various other functions of a fortress, this one had
to house all the towers of the individual wizards who made up the Bright
Alliance. Finding a sensible (and architecturally-sound) way of doing
this had proven a challenge for Talathion Undiviel, and the old elven
architect had proposed several different configurations to the group of
wizards before finding one they all agreed on.
CLOSE-UP VIEW OF THE FORTRESS LAYOUT
(map rotated 45 degrees counterclockwise for easier rendering)
(features are not precisely to scale)
(facing city below)
/\
/||\
||
||
___ ___ __
| |_________________.._________________| | | = 100'
|_ _|
| ______________====______________ |
| | + + /**\| |
| |+ ########## |****| |
| | ########## \**/| |
| | ########## | |
| |+ ########## | |
| |______+_____+_____+_____+_____+_| |
_| |_
| ____________________________________ |
|___| |___|
^ ^ ^
| | |_____ outer wall (50' high)
| |
| |_________ inner wall (50' high)
|
|_____________ guard towers (4) (100' high each)
## central building of magic
** artificial lake
.. gate at top of ramp leading down to city
== troop barracks and armory
+ wizard tower sites (9)
The outer wall's base rose directly out of the huge column of rock, so
to anyone on the desert floor far below, the entire thing would present
as a single three-hundred-fifty-foot vertical face. Four guard towers
were sited at the corners of the outer wall, these being a hundred feet
in height (thus rising fifty feet above the main wall). The entire top
of the plateau - all 2000' x 1000' of it - was surrounded by that outer
wall.
Within the first wall was a smaller, raised platform of rock roughly
sixteen hundred feet long and six hundred wide. This area, fifty feet
above the surrounding courtyard and buildings, was then protected by its
own, inner wall which itself was fifty feet high. The second wall had no
guard towers...for it would eventually contain the more formidable spires
of the Bright Alliance archmagi themselves. Also contained within the
inner wall and built atop its raised shelf was a massive central building
some six hundred feet long, four hundred feet wide, and two hundred feet
high. This huge structure would house all of the various magic-oriented
facilities such as the library, workshop, foundry and armory, lyceum, and
rooftop observatory atop the watchtower.
As for the future tower sites of the Bright Alliance archmagi, each was
empty for now since each of the wizards would be responsible for his or
her own tower (or perhaps another type of structure) which would be both
their home and private space. Each of these future structures would also
house that wizard's companions, henchpeople, servants, automatons, and so
forth. While only seven such sites were needed - Alindyar and Lyra would
of course share a single home, with six others needed for Belphanior,
Dexitheseus, Kronos, Pallin, Parekh, and Wu - a total of nine had been
earmarked to cover any future expansion of the group. The heights of
these future structures would be capped at a hundred feet, so that the
central building of magic at their center would be the highest point in
the fortress.
As much as there would be atop the plateau...there was plenty _beneath_
it as well. A hundred feet under the wizards' future homes and the huge
central building, a series of passages and chambers had been cut from the
very rock itself. Among other things, this area would contain the Bright
Alliance's vaults, in which would be stored treasures both monetary and
magical. A complex and powerful series of permanent enchantments, wards,
and protections would eventually be cast upon this vault, augmenting the
natural protection offered by the thick rock surrounding it. This area's
physical construction was already complete, since having a safe place to
store things was a fairly high priority on the wizards' list; until now,
anything of value not carried on someone's person had been kept within
Pallin's magical, portable fortress of iron. This solution simply did
not scale long-term, though, and so all of them would be glad to have a
more secure and permanent repository for jointly-owned or -used valuables.
The northeastern part of the fortress had barracks and an armory for
those troops and supplies assigned to the stronghold itself, while the
nearby gate provided ready access to the zigzagging pathway leading down
to the city. Higher up, atop the inner section, rested the artificial
lake that the wizards had created, and from which a series of cleverly-
designed ducts carried water everywhere - to the fortress, down to the
city below, and into the farmland beyond. No water went to waste either;
a complex series of pipes and valves controlled clean water for drinking,
downstream of which was almost-as-clean water for bathing, and runoff
from that was used for mopping and scrubbing floors and such, and then
the final destination of dirty water was the sewage system. Excess clean
water also made its way to the fields, for crops and animals and such.
The advantage of having the lake at a higher elevation than everything
else was that gravity did the work, ensuring a steady flow as needed, all
controlled by the series of valves.
Pallin: (rubs his eyes wearily as he considers that it's still only the
middle of the morning, with many hours of work yet to come) Sigh.
Despite the ongoing direction of golems, and the steady spellcasting,
and the near-constant coordination with Vogric and to a lesser extent
Talathion...there was definite and continuous progress with all of these
building efforts. And as each particular work item was completed, it
moved future ones just a bit closer to their completion. The whole thing
was like a gigantic puzzle that was slowly but surely being assembled;
Pallin had to keep reminding himself of the greater purpose here.
Pallin: (talking softly to himself, as he has often found himself doing
during this project) The goal will be worth the journey.
next: Belphanior, Peldor, and the Greyhawk bureaucracy
map: http://www.peldor.com/world/atlas/Bright-Desert_1194.jpg
www: http://www.peldor.com/download.html
homepage: http://www.peldor.com/
email: tmiller@peldor.com
released: 3/6/2026
notes: Whew. It was really challenging to transfer my vision for
the layout of everything to ASCII maps and written words. Ideally I
would draw proper maps, but there's no good way to do it (I already
tried, using square graph paper, but it wasn't working out). Here's
a little secret: I actually had a different, trapezoidal design for
the fortress, and changed it to what you see above for simplicity.
It's easier to draw a nice neat rectangle and note that it's turned
forty-five degrees...than it is to map it out in the orientation that
it actually has. Anyway, for now you have these wondrous ASCII maps,
including my makeshift magnification effect.
I know there was a lot going on in this episode. Creating/designing
a fortress alone is a huge undertaking; add on a city (or a whole new
kingdom/land/whatever) and it's even more work. While I knew it would
be a major challenge when I initially went down this road, I do not
plan to "show my work" for every single thing e.g. the infrastructure,
economy, religion, politics, and so on. I don't believe it's necessary
to get into that level of detail on everything; I'm trying to show some
good ideas that could apply to a nice new city (even in a fantasy type
setting). As just one example, the use of successively-dirtier water
for successively-dirtier purposes not only makes sense but is actually
happening in our world today. Or the gravity-powered system of pipes
and valves to move water from a higher-sited reservoir down to places
below without needing magic...this just makes sense. I suppose I could
have just explained it with something vague like "water was moved about
via a strange and arcane series of channels" but I tried to meet you in
the middle of lazy versus granular, wherever I could.
On a similar note, Pallin (and Cespedes, when he was still around)
are basically using golems (and used elementals too, at times) as heavy
construction equipment. Think about it...no fuel needed, no downtime
needed, heavy capacity...golems are the bulldozers and cranes of the
Bright Desert efforts.
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