Iniarv's Tower

Iniarv's Tower was a ruined tower near the Mere of Dead Men that belonged to the lich Iniarv.

Geography
Iniarv's Tower was on the eastern side of the High Road, but it was often considered part of the Mere of Dead Men. The Uthtower was 60 miles (97 kilometers) west of Iniarv's Tower.

Description
Iniarv's Tower was a square keep that sat upon an escarpment overlooking the High Road. The walls of the keep were five foot thick stone and approximately eighty feet to a side. Two twenty-foot square, thirty-foot high stone towers stood on the northern and southern corners of the square. A thirty-foot high gatehouse with portcullises and murder holes stood at the western corner of the square. The three towers were connected by a walkway with parapets that could be reached by sets of steps from the inner courtyard.

The inner courtyard, or ward, was hard-packed earth and had two small wooden building against the outer walls. One building was a smithy and the other was a stables. Doors off of the ward led into the corner towers as well as the building's main tower.

The main tower sat on the eastern corner of the square and was fifty feet square and over seventy feet high. The ground level had a stone floor. The interior was divided into several levels by wooden floors and had a wooden roof with parapets as well. The views from the upper levels of the Sword Mountains, the Mere of Dead Men, and the High Road were said to be stunning. Stairs connected each level as well as leading down into the cellars and crypts below.

The structure had been repaired and rebuilt many times over the centuries using varying styles and degrees of care, but the tower always seemed to fall back into ruin. Many attributed this to a curse upon the building bestowed by Iniarv himself. By 1372 DR much of the structure was back in ruins. Parts of the outer wall had been breached, the interior of one of the small corner towers had collapsed, the courtyard buildings were in ruins, the stairs down to the crypts were blocked with rubble, and the interior floors and roof of the main tower had largely collapsed.

Defenses
Trespassers to the tower triggered a spell known Iniarv's unseen voice, which projected a simulated voice of the tower's original owners. If the black dragon Waervaerendor (thought to be Voaraghamanthar) was present, he would copy the lich's voice to scare intruders.

History
Iniarv's Tower originally belonged to Iniarv, the Mage Royal of Uthtower. He used the tower as his base and from there released a number of magical beasts and experimental monsters into the wild. Prior to 614 DR, Iniarv had mysteriously disappeared. In reality, he had become a lich and retreated to the tower's crypts, not to be seen in public until the forces of Phalorm chose the tower as a defensive spot in their fight against the orc invasion of 615 DR. The fighting enraged Iniarv and he emerged from his tower and called on the ocean to flood the land, turning it into the swamp known as the Mere of Dead Men.

After Iniarv's Tower was abandoned, it fell into ruins and was at various times occupied by bandits, fugitives, orcs, and others. Around 1370 DR, a group of Helmites from Waterdeep, led by Sir Justin Melenikus, chased bandits from the tower and began using it as their own base. The Helmites actively recruited adventurers to help them slay the monsters and bandits of the Mere. The Helmites were there only a short time, as the black dragons Voaraghamanthar and Waervaerendor captured them around 1372 DR.

Notable inhabitants

 * Iniarv, Mage Royal of Uthtower.
 * Justin Melenikus, paladin of Helm.

Magazines

 * Dungeon magazine 69
 * Dungeon magazine 73