After the completion of Castle Ravenloft, the Archmage Orlev ben Khazan left the eastern Zarovich Valley, concerned at Strahd von Zarovich's increasing instability. Finding himself unable to leave the valley after Strahd made his pact with Vampyr, Khazan decided to build a remote tower in which he could protect himself from Barovia's increasing dangers. He found an ideal spot on Lake Baratok, where a small island was connected to the southeast shore by a 100-foot long marshy causeway. There, he constructed a wizard's tower, marked by statues of griffins and an internal elevator pulled by Clay Golems.
The four-story tower took time to build, as Khazan was worried about encroaching forest-folk and the nearby Werewolf Den, only growing in population. He set up a variety of spells to ward the structure, including an anti-magic field that stemmed five feet its walls and a symbol puzzle etched into Khazan's Tower Door. The symbol contained a connected series of lines with eight stick figures engraved in it, and the only way to enter was to figure out the magical lock. By standing in front of the door an imitating the arm positions of all eight stick figures in proper sequence, it would disable the trap and cause the door to swing open. If a creature attempted to circumvent this, or made the incorrect pattern, lightning would strike the tower. This caused a massive shock to anyone close to it and engulfed the tower in electricity for ten minutes.
Its construction was stop-start, as he would delay further abjuration in between trips to the Amber Temple to learn further secrets of Spellcraft, and for most its days the tower remained abandoned. The road that led to the remote, dilapidated tower was eventually swallowed up by the Svalich Woods. However, two trails still stemmed from the Old Svalich Road to the island, and occasionally, the tower would entered or attacked by interlopers. Time and neglect hurt the tower as much as the repeated lightning bursts that shook its foundations. At some point, rickety scaffolding had been set up as an alternate entrance to the third floor, where a large hole had been blown into the wall.