The tower looked bizarre. Mirgia struggled to even figure out for himself what he was looking at. At first glance it looked like a normal stone tower with some strange design choices, but the more he looked at it, the more he started to doubt what he saw. After talking to Rolin and Mel in the inn, they decided that Kimi and Teddy would return to Ankh and the Sahilid at their camp while Mel, Rolin and Mirgia headed straight for the tower. The tower was only a few minutes outside of town and Mirgia was worried that during their talk in the town, Ankh would have moved to the tower himself, but upon arrival it didn’t seem that way. The design was strange starting with the material. What he had initially assumed to be stone seemed like it might be a form of hardened wood instead. It looked like it had grains to it like a plank of wood would. It also curved in strange ways as if the entire tower was somehow woven out of strings of hardened wood. Putting it into words in his own mind didn’t help much with making sense of it. The door looked strange too, almost like a coiled snake. When Mirgia carefully put his hand on the door it even felt like a snake too and after he followed the pattern to the center he realized that in the center of the door was the mouth of a snake, fully opened. Looking into it, Mirgia saw a kaleidoscopic view of what looked to be a theater performance where the moving parts were so abstract and confusing that even though his mind registered it as a theater performance, he couldn’t actually make any sense of what was going on. He shook his head. “I have lived a long time and although I’ve spent a lot of that time near my hometown, I have seen some strange sights throughout the years.” Mirgia looked at the other three. “I have never seen anything like this, not even remotely close. This makes the dungeon we saw in Redsan look like a regular village house.”
“Well,” Mel said, “That doesn’t help settle my nerves one bit.”
“You say this Brela went into this tower then? How did she do that?”
“I didn’t really see it for myself,” Mel replied, “only Rolin was present to see it and his vision is a little bit special after all.”
“She held my hand while looking into the kaleidoscopic view that is in the snake’s mouth. When she uttered a few words, that’s when my eyes started to flare up and turn into what they are now. I think that I somehow have something to do with getting into the tower, but beyond that I don’t have the faintest clue what it could be.”
“I think I might have some guesses as to that,” a familiar voice said as Ankh approached the tower with two of the Sahilid as well as Kimi and Teddy behind him. They all turned to face him and Rolin seemed to visibly shrink. “You are unpleasant,” he said to Ankh.
“I get that a lot, but it still hurts when you say it out loud.”
“Apologies, I’m still new to this.”
“New to what?” Ankh asked.
Rolin opened his eyes and Ankh gasped audibly, the first time that Mirgia had seen him shocked and out of his element.
“What are you?” He asked.
“Usually people ask me who I am before asking what I am, stranger.”
Ankh struggled to regain his composure but ultimately did. “I’m sorry, who are you?”
“I am Rolin Everglade, I’ve lived in this village all my life and I was effectively blind until a little while ago. I already explained to your companions here that I gained some form of sight recently when I came into contact with a woman named Brela, who then headed into the tower.”
“Fascinating,” Ankh replied. “I go by Ankh and I am here to figure out what part of the city of Kanarth this is and what valuables might be inside. If I deem them important, I will claim them for the emperor.”
“We’ll see about that,” Mel replied.
“Either way,” Ankh said, “I would love to work together to figure out how to get inside this tower.”

Mirgia sat down a little ways away from the tower. Looking at it too much was giving him a headache and he definitely wasn’t the one who would figure out the secret to opening this tower. Kimi, Ankh and Rolin were having a discussion about their options while the other two Sahilid were instructed to inspect every part of the tower meticulously in case they’d missed anything. Mel and Teddy were sitting down with Mirgia.
“You doing alright?” Teddy asked.
“Me?”
“Both of you,” he looked at Mel as well. “I can imagine it’s a lot to take in that a stranger suddenly gave your brother sight.”
Mel nodded. “And not just any sight, but this strange sight that allows him to see colors and emotions. I was worried about what he might see in me.”
Teddy nodded. “Aye, we all have our darker thoughts from time to time, so I get that that is a scary thought, but you have to understand that our darker thoughts aren’t what define us as a person, they are only a momentary lapse in judgement. Who we really are shines through in our actions and I’m sure Rolin can see that.”
Mel smiled. “Thanks Teddy, I get what he sees in you.”
Teddy chuckled. “I just do what I can.” He looked at Mirgia. “Worried about your friends?”
Mirgia nodded. “I’ve ended up staying in Redsan longer than I wanted and now we’re making this detour too. I’m worried about setting up this meeting between Ankh and Karnisal as well.” He looked to make sure that the sorcerer was out of earshot. “I don’t trust his intentions one bit. I bet he’s only working with us to get to this meeting. But what is he planning?”
Teddy shrugged. “As long as you work things out in a way where you keep the upper hand, then surely nothing truly bad happens. As unpleasant as Ankh can be at times, I doubt he has any truly awful intentions with Karnisal, right?”
Mirgia nodded. “I hope you’re right.” He looked out around him. The forest here felt familiar, though he hadn’t been to this part of it, he knew this was his home. The Liriath forest was a large forest, going from the shore to the center of the Feral Wildlands while also going north and south a fair bit. And Milinia was located more or less in the center of that forest. The trees were the same as home and it put him at ease. It also reminded him of the duty he had to Karnisal in protecting the prince of Blueyerd and how painfully absent he was from that role. He hoped that his letter reached Karnisal properly. After what felt like an hour but was probably closer to half that time, Ankh sauntered up to the trio sitting on the ground. “I think we’re stuck.”
“What do you mean?”
“We believe that to enter this tower, Rolin’s power is needed, but it also requires someone to know how to wield that power. This Brela person seemed to know how to use this power and thus slipped into the building, but Rolin has no idea what to do, and neither do I.”
Mirgia considered this. “So what’s your plan?”
“I have two thoughts.”
“Share with the class,” Teddy said.
“The first one is that we try to brute-force it, just figure out a way to break into the tower. Rolin was opposed to this because he believes it might hurt the woman who went in before us.”
“And what’s the second plan?”
Ankh looked at Mirgia. “If there is anyone who could figure out how to deal with something like this, it would be Karnisal.”
“You’re joking.”
Ankh shook his head. “I know this might sound like me trying to get my end of the bargain quicker, but I truly believe that Karnisal with all of his council is the most likely person to actually solve this.”
“And then what, you expect me to go fetch him for you?”
“I would have phrased it differently, but let me alter expectations. I’m not saying you have to convince him to come over immediately, but there is a lot of wisdom in Milinia. Your people know these forests better than anyone and unless you know of any ancient spirits that could help us, I can’t think of a better person to come help.”
“What about Kimi?”
“The spirit of music? I mean no disrespect but she’s a child. She has barely lived for two centuries. This magic is ten times as old as her. She’s talented but this is beyond her scope. The powers in Kanarth were incomparable to that of mages now.”
Mirgia thought about this for a little bit. “I will travel to Milinia and talk to Karnisal. I will take Kimi and Teddy with me and you will stay here in Severanti. If you want to deal with other business in the meantime that is fine, but I have two demands for you.”
“Still so hostile,” Ankh scoffed.
“Are you listening?”
Ankh seemed like he wanted to comment something else but then stopped himself and nodded.
“Good. First is that your cronies leave this town alone.”
Ankh nodded. “Done.“
“And the second demand is that you tell me why you are so desperate to get into this tower. It’s a difficult task from the looks of it and these dungeons have been popping up everywhere. You didn’t seem as invested into the dungeon near Redsan, so why would you go through such lengths for this and to meet with Karnisal?”
“I’ve told you already, he’s the only one who could provide some serious help in this messed up situation, and this tower might contain something dangerous.”
Mirgia shook his head. “Not enough, I need you to be a little bit more specific.”
Ankh sighed. “Look, I don’t know for sure what we can find in this tower, nor if there is anything of value in there. But I know one thing. This tower is not just any old building. This tower is a prison. And I want to know who or what would be dangerous enough for someone in Kanarth to lock them up in a prison this complex.”
“May I join you to Milinia?” Rolin asked.
“Don’t you need to stay here?” Kimi asked.
Rolin shook his head. “Mel will keep an eye on things here and it seems like Ankh will continue investigating the tower. I assume that your city leader will be more capable of assessing the situation if I’m present. That’ll make his decision on what to do easier and maybe he can even explain things to us without having to come along.” He smiled. “Besides, having lived on the edge of the Liriath forest all my life I can’t say I’m not at least a little bit curious about your hometown. Especially now that I can see.”
“Well, you’re welcome to come along with us.”