The Ebony Tower, once a foreboding citadel of necromantic power deep within the Burned Woods, now lies in complete ruin, a shattered remnant of its former dread. For centuries, this tower had been the unholy bastion of Leonardo the Unliving, a Vampire Lord whose dark influence tainted the very earth around him, twisting the Burned Woods into a desolate landscape of death and decay.
The final confrontation between The Sunsations and Leonardo was a battle of epic proportions. As the adventurers fought their way through the tower's twisted halls, they discovered the source of Leonardo's power—a horrific, flesh-covered, organic tree at the heart of the tower. This grotesque structure was not just a manifestation of Leonardo's necromantic abilities; it was the very heart of the Vampire Lord himself, pulsating with the dark energy that had corrupted the Burned Woods for so long.
As Haellae Colaerth and Guy the Grateful struck blow after blow against the heart, the tower began to tremble and crack, the necrotic energies that had held it together unraveling with each strike. Bar-Then the Kneebreaker, the twisted and monstrous servant of Leonardo, fought valiantly to protect his master, but something unexpected occurred in the chaos of the collapsing tower. In a fleeting moment of clarity, a shard of Bar-Then's former self broke through the dark veil that had consumed him. Perhaps it was the proximity to death or the sudden realization of what he had become, but for a brief instant, the creature that had once been a noble warrior regained his consciousness.
In that moment, Bar-Then turned against his master, using the last of his strength to attack Leonardo and aid The Sunsations in their desperate bid to escape the tower's destruction. With a Herculean effort, Bar-Then held up the crumbling stone roof and created a path of escape for the adventurers. As they fled, he stayed behind, placing one massive, broken hand on a cracked pane of stained glass, shedding a single tear—a final gesture of defiance against the darkness that had consumed him.
As The Sunsations burst out into the open air, the tower collapsed behind them in a deafening roar, burying both Leonardo the Unliving and Bar-Then in a cascade of rubble and ruin. The heart of Leonardo was destroyed along with the tower, severing its necrotic grip on the Burned Woods and allowing the land to begin the slow process of healing. Leonardo's dark legacy, and all the horrors he had wrought, were buried beneath the ashes, lost to time.
With the destruction of the Ebony Tower, the Sunsations had struck a decisive blow against the forces of darkness that had long plagued the region. Yet, the memory of Bar-Then's final, redemptive act lingered with them—a tragic reminder of what had been lost and what had been reclaimed in the battle against the darkness.
The Ebony Tower, now reduced to little more than a pile of twisted stone and decayed wood, serves as a monument to the fall of Leonardo the Unliving and the slighted restoration of balance to the Burned Woods.