Rising far above the twisting masses of charred and gnarled trees within the Burned Woods, the Ebony Tower was the grotesque lair and laboratory of Leonardo the Unliving, a depraved genius and self-proclaimed master of fleshcraft and necromantic alchemy. Once a fabled fortress of knowledge, it had long since been twisted into an abomination of organic horror, a monument to Leonardo’s dark aspirations.
A Living Abomination of Flesh
Leonardo the Unliving referred to the tower as his Magnum Opus, a creation not of stone, but of his own living flesh. The walls pulsed with veins, sinew, and shifting muscle, grotesquely writhing as if the tower itself was aware. At the upper courtyard, a twisted tree of grafted flesh and organs sprouted, its malformed branches grasping at the sky like the desperate hands of the damned. The stench of rot and suffering permeated every corridor, mingling with the acrid fumes of necromantic rituals and alchemical experiments gone awry.
Inside, the tower was a labyrinthine nightmare of twisting corridors lined with jars of preserved body parts, sprawling operating tables soaked in ancient blood, and grotesque bestiaries of fused monstrosities—beasts and men alike, forcibly stitched together into new and horrifying lifeforms. Among these was Leonardo’s greatest horror: his reimagining of Bar-Then the Kneebreaker.
The Tragedy of Bar-Then
Once legendary heroes, Bar-Then the Kneebreaker and Thomm ventured into the tower to put an end to Leonardo’s madness. However, they underestimated the sheer extent of his power. Bar-Then fell into Leonardo’s hands, while Thomm barely managed to escape—at great cost. To ensure his friend’s survival and the completion of their mission in The Shadowfell, Bar-Then made the ultimate sacrifice, holding off Leonardo’s monstrous experiments before being subdued.
For years, Leonardo worked on Bar-Then’s broken body, perfecting what he called his greatest fleshbound creation—a monstrous, hulking abomination, fusing unnatural sinew and necrotic energy with the remnants of the once-proud warrior. The mind of Bar-Then was shattered, his soul bound in torment as his body was twisted into a savage flesh giant, an unthinking thrall to Leonardo’s wicked will.
Fall of the Ebony Tower
It was only when the adventuring band The Sunsations arrived that the dark reign of Leonardo the Unliving would meet its end. After a harrowing battle within the tower’s writhing halls, they faced Leonardo in his sanctum—the courtyard of the living flesh tree, within which his heart pulsed and governed the abominable structure.
Through sheer determination, they set the horrific tree ablaze, severing Leonardo’s connection to the tower. As the tree shrieked with an inhuman wail, its massive, fleshy limbs withered and curled in upon themselves, causing the entire structure to collapse into the Burned Woods. The tower’s grotesque walls, once a testament to Leonardo’s mastery of flesh, were reclaimed by the very land he had defiled.
Leonardo the Unliving was destroyed, his magnum opus undone, his vile experiments left to rot in the smoldering ruins of what once was the most horrifying stronghold in the Burned Woods.
Yet, even in destruction, the whispers of his experiments and horrors still linger in the dark, and the legend of Leonardo the Unliving endures—a grim warning to those who would tread the path of unchecked ambition and sacrilegious science.