The Great Canyon is a truly immense landform, a leftover scar through plain and mountain and valley and highland and sea all alike, carved into the world with the fury of the heavens. A leftover from the great cataclysm. Its width is vast, over a hundred miles in some places. Its depth is fiercely challenging, where it cuts through the more elevated land it can be almost three miles deep, a mountain range in reverse.

It is also the site of one of the only safe-ish routes between two great pockets of civilization: Noten and Atsos, the Empire United and the Northern Federation. Prowled by monsters at times, no real permanent civilization save those trying to carve out inns or caravansaries, and these lonesome sites often destroyed before they reach three decades of age. But plenty still walk this route, because the profit to be had is vast. It is often worth the risk to a canny, well-prepared merchant. Southern steelware for northern silks, southern books for northern scrolls, southern jewelry for northern porcelain. 

The most difficult part of the crossing is the Great Canyon. The lead-up to it as one ascends and ascends, cold and barren. The cliffside roads winding down, down, down, down, carved from bare stone by sorcery and muscle. The winding narrow path across the dry depth where farming is of little use, water is either scarce or prone to sudden devastating flash floods, and sharp stone and hidden ravines lurk.

There is one relatively safe path. A place where experienced guides will walk caravans through, avoiding the worst risks, for a reasonable fee.

But now there is a massive tower right in the middle of the best route, the Archer's Way. It's visible from both sides of the canyon, and throughout its basin near the crossing.

The first one to approach the tower is a winged man carrying a map, a number of magic trinkets, and minimal other possessions. (Every ounce makes flying harder.)

He approaches the tower from the air, and takes a good look.

He has pretty darn good distance vision for detail, and especially for motion. He has a sense for wind and air currents, provided with a witchery blessing. He has a necklace trinket that buzzes gently against his chest when it detects magic above a certain threshold, which is often, but it's a useful warning sometimes.

Unfortunately, his necklace was somewhat less useful as a warning now, as it hadn't stopped buzzing incessantly since the tower came into view.

There was not much for him to see from the air. The tower itself was cylindrical and about 10 stories tall, with a purple-shingled conical roof. There are barred windows on the upper floors, but with the glare of the reflection, it was impossible to make out anything inside without getting closer. There don't seem to be any other entrances save for the front doors.

The tower was directly in the middle of the road running inbetween the canyon walls, but luckily was not so large as to make the route impassible. But this was a rather large structure to be on such an important trade route, and he certainly hadn't heard anything about a tower on this road before.

Yeah, he is the one who made the map. He's the one who told the caravan he was escorting to sit tight while he investigates. This is new. And extremely magic. And maybe dangerous?

Hey, fortune favors the bold!

He flies in closer, aiming to circle around the tower and maybe land.

Santo had to practically press his face against the windows to look inside, but what he saw was certainly interesting. In no particular order:

1) A large bedroom, immaculately designed, clearly meant for someone very wealthy.

2) A large library filled floor-to-ceiling with books, where small dragons made from books and paper ferried small items to and fro with their tails.

3) Several laboratories where balls of pink light flowed in and out of arcane machinery made from crystal and gold.

4) A room containing shelves holding dozens of glass jars, each one seeming to contain a miniaturized animal.

5) Several smaller bedrooms.

6) A room containing dozens of statues made from iron, copper, and straw.

Finding no other way inside, Santo landed back down in front of the entrance gate.

It sure looks like some sort of weird wizard thing. Maybe it's actually a cursed ruin, or well, not a ruin. Or a trick. He's pretty sure wizards are usually less with the animals and statues and more with math and chalkboards and big ritual circles.

...Santo lands and knocks three times on the big front doors.

Santo could faintly hear his knocking echo within the tower, but there was no response.

Well... Okay, then. Yeah, he's got a bad feeling about this. Also: A job to do.

He takes back to the air and draaaaaaags himself up to altitude again, to get a good look at how the terrain has been damaged and start plotting an alternate caravan route.

Nobody else approaches the tower for at least a couple hours.

In the meantime, the tower seems to come to life. Lights come on in the tower interior, and the sounds of industry ring out, black smoke pouring from hidden chimneys. At some point the great entrance doors opened, and now several iron golems -each the size of a man- roam the vicinity in groups, slaying any monsters that were drawn by the commotion with swords, halberds, or even their own bare hands. One golem held a large, clear purple gemstone in its hands, and those with sharp eyes could see a monster trapped and struggling inside.

Other Guides examining the area each unanimously decide to avoid it- For now at least. Those iron golems look frighteningly strong.

The petty Curse trapped inside the gem seems to hover just on the edge of dissolving from the disruption of being captured. It switches between caricatures of different forms, skin deep emulations over a core of hostile energy- Scorpion, wolf, spherical ooze, scrawny humanoid, bird, lizard, back to millipede-

The golem carrying the gemstone vanished into the tower, returning empty-handed sometime later.

The golems in the field continued their monster-slaying purge, but eventually they defeated all detectable threats within their immediate vicinity. The majority of the golems went back inside, but many of them remained outside in was quickly becoming the tower's 'courtyard'.

...

...

Caravan Master Horse Maximillian (Don't ask about the name; He lost a bet) is travelling north to get rich. He's been careful and canny. He got multiple loans (at utterly horrible rates, given his travel plans), and hired people and prepared supplies to break into the Northern Trade. His wagons are full of books, leather, clothes and sandals, dyes, incense, jewelry, steel tools, and all sorts of other exotica of Noten that has been known to sell well in Atsos. The smart thing to do is to follow his well-paid guide's instructions on a new route around the mysterious new tower. But if he always did the smart thing, he wouldn't be here today.

He's not the only decision maker. There's a debate. In the end, two wagons break off from the rest of the group and approach the tower. He delivers a bombastic speech to the front door about wanting to trade for exotic wares- Surely some sort of exchange can be had that leaves everyone happy, yes? (If nobody comes out or nobody is listening, this is fine. He can deliver his patter as many times as necessary, it just seems rude to open the door uninvited without even trying.)

The iron golems completely ignored the caravan, turning to look at any who approach and moving out of the direct path of the caravan itself, but otherwise not reacting in the slightest to their arrival.

A few minutes after the Caravan Master began his speech, the doors opened a crack and a man peeked out curiously.

He was dressed finely but simply, in plain, well-made clothes. He wore a loose shirt of white cotton, brown pants (perhaps leather), and calf-height boots. His long brown hair was tied back into a ponytail with a strip of leather, and he peered at the group in confusion over small round glasses.

"Can I help you?" He said, his voice full of genuine confusion, as if the idea of strangers appearing on his doorstep was nearly unthinkable.

"Perhaps, sir, or perhaps I can help you? I am a trader, you see, and you clearly have quite an impressive home. These iron guardians too are like nothing I have seen in my travels before. It makes me yearn to see what wonders might hide within, and perhaps provide some of my wares from afar in exchange for some trinkets you no longer require? Ah, my name is Maximillian."

He bows.

The man blinked and tilted his head in confusion.

"You wish to... trade..?"

The man appeared to think on that for a moment.

"Well come on in then," he said, opening the door wider. "Don't worry about your wagons, the golems will keep any monsters away."

Just beyond the front entrance was a long hallway. A fine purple carpet stretched down the length towards a large semi-circular room at the back, nearly the width of the entire tower. There sat a number of wooden tables and stuffed chairs all centered around a fireplace in the middle of the room, lit with pale violet flames.

The hallway itself was lit by what seemed to be floating balls of white flame, like disembodied torchlight that produced no heat. To either side of the hallway were a pair of open doors, which appeared to lead to storerooms.

Four people follow him in; Human, birdperson (not the guide), kobold, and catperson. Three of them carry big wooden chests. They hesitate at the carpet, and try to get the worst mess off their shoes before stepping onto the carpet before following the man.

"Quite an impressive place. Those are interesting magic lights. Usually you see them made from quartz, and requiring a recharge once in a while. A bit of an odd place you've chosen to, uh, build in, though."

"Huh, that's odd. These are just persistent spells," their host said. He casually waved a hand and a row of those magelight orbs appeared along the nearby wall, before disappearing with another idle wave.

"A little known fact, but originally this tower was nothing more than a log cabin atop a snowy mountaintop, just a few years ago. Its been quite the journey since then."

Isaac led the group into the central chamber, which was much taller than the hall at two stories tall, at least. Around the perimeter of the chamber were more magelight orbs, and between each one was a banner. Tattered, covered in ash and specks of blood, each banner seemed to come from a different, unfamiliar nation or culture. Directly below each banner was an alcove containing a marble statue of a warrior, presumably from the culture the banner depicted. Each warrior was different from the rest, as different as the banners were from each other, but each warrior was armed and set into a combative pose. Strangely enough, none of the statues had bases, yet maintained their balance on marble feet.

The long carpet from the hallway expanded into a circular rug across most of the chamber. Bookshelves, antique ceramics, and other displays of wealth were set against the walls, but the center of the room seemed dedicated to tables and stuffed chairs arranged around the fireplace, still burning with that strange violet flame.

"Please, sit," he said, gesturing towards the chairs, before taking a seat himself at one of the tables.

They will sit. And glance curiously around at all the banners and statues. It's a little ominous... Will the Five Crowns of Noten be added to the collection?

"You must have had a busy time. Wizards are always trying to discover new things. Perhaps they have not discovered 'persistent spells' yet, around here. Spells without an anchor, crystal, dissolve when they are out of energy. Seeing what you have here, my wares must seem like pebbles and sticks some child found in the woods..."

"I see you've noticed my collection," he chuckled. "Trophies taken from invaders who wanted what was mine. It's been a busy few years."

"The light spells themselves will eventually dissipate when they run out of power, but they're designed to be hyper-efficient. They'll last for years, even without additional power from the tower."

"As for what I want, it depends. It is true that I want little for material goods or arcane power. But what I value is uniqueness. I seek novelty, things that I have never seen before, which may further my studies."

"Ah, I see. Should I simply begin listing novelties, to see if you have not yet acquired them?"

"Of course," he said, leaning forward in the chair. "Show me what you have to offer, and afterwords we can discuss price."