The Barnacle Tower

The exact reason for the tower is unknown . What does seem apparent is that when it appears on the coast of southern Frankia during a full moon, creatures called Sahuagin appear for 5 nights to enslave and kill any humans or other such species, and other animals. They come out of the ocean leading slaves to the tower while taking the corpses, split into even numbers if possible, into it and the ocean.

It seems to be grown from some type of barnacle grown to huge proportions in a twisted growth pattern, with holes grown into areas of the walls to allow for air and light to come in. The walls are thick & strong and made of six hard calcareous plates fused together. These appear to be a couple of metres thick, and even thicker at the base. The external shell has a spiral shape that juts out and at lower levels appears to be able to walked on.

The fused shell it is made off appears to impervious to most forms of attacks, though acid and bludgeoning by magical attacks seem to cause slightly more damage than any other form. Certainly cold and water based attacks seem to cause little damage if any.

The Barnacle Tower has been a legend for centuries in the region of the coast just east of the Pyrenees. There it has appeared & disappeared every century for 5 days and nights during the full moon. It brings death and disappearance every time, humans and other such species, as well as animals are carried off into the sea, whether alive or dead.

Exactly why it is unknown, yet old records dating back to the time of the First Men speak of a curse placed in the region saying that an ancient evil took up residence in what became the Mediterranean many many centuries ago.

An ancient god had been buried there, originally summoned by a cult of First Men which enslaved them in due course. Over time Pangea split apart isolating them from some of the others of their kind, and when the Mediterranean flooded the cult was covered by the water.

There they were warped by their ancient god who also mutated other animal life into different shapes to allow them to survive in the sea. The First Men came back as Sahuagin becoming another branch of these fell creatures.

From there they were able to come back every 100 years to claim new slaves for their underground lairs and brought to the service by the Barnacle Tower which holds their ancient god which watches their progress dictating which is to become new members of their cult and which becomes food.

When the time is right the Barnacle Tower sinks back into the sea and the Sahuagin disappear with it. Mean to happen shortly after the summer solstice disappearances and mass murder does seem to happen regularly over so many square miles in the region every 100 years.

Now the time draws close for it to appear again and locals look to improve their defences hoping to survive for another generation.....