The Mirror Tower

Wulfric Barden never revealed his reasons for building, nor any intended purpose of, the Mirror Tower. Some speculate that it may have been intended as some kind of status symbol, or perhaps a religious feature, but despite his eccentricities, Barden was never known for being a particularly devout man, nor was he prone to frivolous spending until work on the Tower began.

The main structure of the tower features a simple fortified, round, stone construction similar to that of a castle's mural towers, with small arched windows and an arched entrance. The tower is 30ft across at its widest point and has seven known floors. There is currently no roof, and the walls of the topmost floor are incomplete. The outer walls up to the sixth floor are layered with reflective panels shaped like scales, giving the Mirror Tower a distinctive fish-like appearance, and it's name. This material is believed to be thin, polished steel, and nobody is sure what it is meant to do in terms of the building.

A six foot wall encircles the entire property, and a single gate gives entry. A cobbled stone path leads from the gate to the tower entrance, and the rest of the grounds of the property are currently wild and overgrown.

The property is surrounded by a single six foot high and two foot deep wall with a simple gate. There are no additional defenses, though it is believed that the entire property is "protected" by a curse on the area.

In late 1479, Wilfric Barden returned home from a party with other Aristocrats seemingly drunk. The coachman stated that Barden's intoxication seemed to have taken hold during the journey back, as he had been in full control of his faculties upon entering the carriage. Barden began raving about building a tower, and within two tenday had drawn up a design and started the process of purchasing land to build it on. This did not particularly bother his wife, Misha, as they were wealthy enough to make such a purchase and her husband was something of an eccentric anyway, always collecting strange, rare, and unique artifacts. Barden purchased land just outside of Greenhollow, which featured a clearing in the woods backed onto a rocky cliff, with a river on the other side. This piece of land became known as Bardenglade, then later as Mirrorglade.

Construction of the Tower began in mid-1480 and was plagued by problems, even before the actual building work started. During the initial clearing and ground-breaking phases, the architect fell ill from a mysterious sickness and several of the workers contracted pox-like symptoms. With workers believing the land to be poisoned, a Priest was brought in to purify the area, but the Priest could find no evidence of poison, disease, or desecration. He did say, however, that there was something "restless" about the area, and called in an associate to attempt an exorcism. However, the exorcism never took place, as the second Priest died of a sudden heart attack en route to the Tower. Barden insisted that building work continue, and the architect, now recovered, agreed to carry on despite protests from the Priest.

As building work started, so the strange events continued. Unexplained lights were spotted moving around the area, both day and night, and tools started to mysteriously vanish from one moment to the next. Larger pieces of equipment began to break, despite much of it being new or recently serviced, and building work was delayed while new equipment was sourced. Barden's enthusiasm for the Tower quickly turned into an obsession, and he began to display irritation at the constant delays. He also began to show disregard for his wife and children, leading Misha to believe that he may perhaps be ill. However the Doctors could find nothing wrong with him, and Barden threw himself into the Tower project with even greater fervour.

Over the next four years, the building of the Tower was slowed by repeated freak accidents and ghostly hauntings. A total of 102 people were mysteriously injured in strange happenings, though nobody was ever killed, and 473 reported sightings of apparitions, spirits, ghosts, or otherworldly phenomena were reported, day and night.

Costs soared as Barden was forced to pay compensations, workers quit in fear for their safety, and the Tower's building progress eventually slowed to a halt in late 1483. By this point, only five floors were completed, and none of the internal workings had been laid. Barden was enraged by this, resulting in a rather violent encounter with his former architect that also led to his divorce from his wife. Barden had become increasingly unstable, and while at first Misha had tried to support him, his violent outburst led her to fear for the safety of their children, and herself. Barden didn't fight the divorce; in fact he barely acknowledged it, being so focused on getting the Tower project up and running again, and Misha ultimately disappeared from his life to start afresh in the nearby town of Harwick. Meanwhile, Barden sold everything except Mirrorglade; his house, land, collections, horses, and even his clothes, to continue to pay for the Tower. The Aristocratic Line of Barden disappeared from records, and Barden's focus turned solely to the Tower as he camped out on the building site itself.

In early 1484, Barden managed to get a new architect and new workers to take on the project, but they too were plagued with hauntings and strange injuries. This time, one of the workers did die, falling from the unfinished top of the Tower when a support strut mysteriously came loose from its holdings. An investigation stopped work for two tenday, which revealed several missing nails from the strut structure. Workers insisted the supports had been built correctly, but the incident was recorded as "worker failure" despite their protests. Haunted day and night, these workers and architect eventually quit six months later, forcing Barden to find a new architect and team. By the time Barden fell ill in mid 1485, he had gone through four architects and building teams in total, three in the last year and a half alone.

His last team had only been working for him for two months when he died, with the tower's seventh floor unfinished and no roof upon the building. Upon his death bed, the final architect, Arian Wildleaf, was the only person beside Barden as he whispered, "I've lost everything... I should never have listened to it..."

Ownership of Mirrorglade fell to Misha Barden, who was still listed as Barden's next of kin despite their divorce. Work ceased on the Tower as the team awaited instructions, but she ultimately dismissed them. Arian Wildleaf encouraged Misha to sell the land as quickly as possible, as they were certain it was cursed, but nobody would buy the land.

To this day, the Mirror Tower remains unfinished and untouched, the land slowly starting to reclaim it. Locals now call this place "The Madness of Barden" or "The Cursed Tower of Greenhollow", and it is considered a cursed place. Local children often attempt to sneak into the land for fun, but many regularly return injured or having reported strange hauntings, lights, and voices echoing through the Tower.