Twin spires of dark stone rising from the ice plain between Morelous and the Selengreyb Plateau—the only structures in Venalthier's interior, standing where no structures should be possible. The Ekri Towers have endured for millennia, their purpose unknown, their builders vanished, their presence unexplained.
Geography
The Ekri Towers stand approximately 150 miles south of The Face and 80 miles north of the Selengreyb Plateau's edge, in a region of relatively flat ice plain where no natural rock formations exist. They rise perhaps 200 feet from a shared base—a circular platform of worked stone roughly 100 feet in diameter.
The towers themselves are constructed from black basalt, similar to the volcanic rock found in The Face but showing no signs of natural formation. The stone is cut into precise blocks, fitted without mortar, rising in a slight taper toward pointed tips. Age has weathered the surfaces but hasn't compromised the structural integrity; whatever built these towers built them to last.
The surrounding ice shows no evidence of buried foundations or additional structures. The platform simply sits on the glacier surface, as though placed there rather than built. Geological analysis suggests the towers are at minimum 10,000 years old—far predating any known civilization in this region.
Architecture
The towers are not identical:
The Eastern Tower: Slightly taller and broader, with a single entrance at ground level. The interior contains a spiral staircase carved from the same black stone, ascending to an empty chamber at the top. Windows pierce the walls at irregular intervals, their openings oriented in directions that correspond to no obvious astronomical alignments.
The Western Tower: Shorter by perhaps 10 feet, with no visible entrance. The surface is smooth and unbroken, with no windows, doors, or apparent method of access. Whether an interior exists is unknown; attempts to breach the walls have failed, and the stone resists both physical and magical investigation.
The Platform: The shared base shows signs of deliberate construction—paved in the same black stone, with channels carved into the surface that may once have held water, metal, or something else entirely. The channels form geometric patterns that scholars have been unable to interpret, though they appear intentional rather than decorative.
Who Built Them
The Riin built the Ekri Towers approximately 2,500 years ago—five centuries before their civilization merged with the Eyendra forest.
At that time, the Riin controlled territory stretching from what is now Eyendra westward across Venalthier to the Scepter coast. The towers served as a way station and observation post, monitoring weather patterns and maintaining communication with settlements that no longer exist. The Riin built them from stone imported from the Scepter Mountains, using techniques that made the structures effectively permanent.
When the Riin began their merger with the land, most of their western infrastructure was abandoned. Settlements emptied, roads disappeared under ice, and the Riin consciousness contracted eastward into Eyendra. The towers should have been abandoned like everything else.
They weren't.
What's Inside the Western Tower
The western tower is sealed because something sealed itself inside.
During the Riin merger, one individual refused to join the collective consciousness. A woman named Ekri—the towers' last keeper—chose individual death over dissolution into the group mind. She climbed into the western tower, sealed the entrance with techniques that cannot be undone from outside, and waited to die alone.
She's still waiting.
Ekri didn't die. The same preservation magic that maintains Eyendra's boundary against the cold also preserved her, frozen in a state between life and death. She's been conscious inside that tower for two thousand years, unable to die, unable to leave, unable to join the collective she rejected.
The hum from the western tower is Ekri, still alive, still aware, still refusing. The Riin consciousness in Eyendra can sense her—a single point of individual identity where there should be none. They've tried to reach her; she won't respond. They've tried to break the seal; they can't. Ekri built the tower to last, and she sealed it against specifically the kind of consciousness her people were becoming.
The Nabuhe know about Ekri because she spoke to one of their ancestors, three centuries ago, through dreams. She explained what she'd done and why. She asked to be left alone. The Nabuhe have honored that request ever since.
Why The Eastern Tower Is Open
The eastern tower remains accessible because Ekri intended it as a refuge.
Before sealing herself away, she left supplies, records, and instructions in the eastern tower for anyone who might need shelter in the frozen waste. The spiral staircase leads to a chamber containing preserved Riin texts—historical records, magical treatises, and Ekri's personal journals describing the merger and why she refused it.
The time dilation effects aren't supernatural—they're a side effect of proximity to Ekri's preservation field. Time moves differently near someone frozen between life and death. The closer you get to the western tower, the more pronounced the effect becomes.
The dreams experienced by those who sleep near the towers are genuine communication. Ekri is lonely. Two thousand years of isolation have left her desperate for contact, even indirect contact through dreams. She shares fragments of Riin history, warnings about Venalthier's dangers, and occasionally useful information about the terrain. She doesn't ask for rescue—she knows there isn't one. She just wants someone to know she's still there.
Strange Phenomena
Those who've visited the Ekri Towers report various anomalies:
Time Dilation: Time seems to pass differently near the towers. Visitors report spending what felt like hours exploring the eastern tower, only to emerge and find days have passed—or the reverse, spending days that registered as minutes.
Dreams: Sleeping near the towers produces vivid, unsettling dreams. Common themes include drowning, falling through ice, and conversations with entities that speak in languages the dreamer doesn't understand but somehow comprehends.
The Hum: A low-frequency vibration is detectable within approximately one mile of the towers. It's felt more than heard—a pressure in the chest, a buzz in the teeth. The hum is constant and seems to emanate from the sealed western tower.
Compass Behavior: Compasses work normally near the towers—unlike other anomalous locations in Venalthier. Some scholars find this suspicious; the towers seem to be deliberately exempt from the magnetic disturbances that affect the rest of the region.
For Travelers
The Ekri Towers are the only shelter between Morelous and Selengreyb. This makes them attractive as a waypoint despite the strangeness that surrounds them:
- Use the eastern tower for shelter if necessary. The interior is warmer than the exterior and provides protection from wind.
- Don't spend more than one night. The time dilation effects seem to intensify with extended exposure.
- Avoid the western tower. You can't get in anyway, and the hum intensifies when approached.
- Don't touch the channel patterns on the platform. They're cold even by Venalthier standards, and contact produces numbness that can take hours to fade.
- Pay attention to your dreams. The tower dreams sometimes contain useful information—warnings about weather, directions to resources, fragments of maps. Whether this is communication or coincidence is unclear.
The towers have stood for at least ten thousand years, watching over empty ice. They'll stand for ten thousand more, regardless of who visits or what they learn. Whatever purpose they serve, they serve it without human participation.
The Nabuhe's silence suggests they know something about the towers. But knowing and speaking are different things, and some knowledge may be better kept.