Widogast's Nascent Nein-Sided Tower



Widogast's Nascent Nein-Sided Tower, also called the Mansion, is a massive magical tower formed by a spell created by Caleb Widogast. It cannot last more than 24 hours at a time, and its contents can only exist inside the tower; however, an unlimited number of guests (including all of the Mighty Nein) and any objects can be brought into the tower. The tower contains a room for each of the Nein, as well as a library, a dining room, multiple kitchens, and a guest room. The tower is tended to by 100 fey cat servants.

Description
Inside the tower, it is possible to float up and down at will at the same speed as a Feather Fall spell. This is necessary to reach the higher levels of the tower, as each the floors are only connected by central openings. These openings are nine-sided and can be closed by a brass iris with the command word "zu" (German/Zemnian for "close"), and opened with "auf" (German/Zemnian for "open").

Within the tower, the walls are covered with wooden pathways and ramps similar to aqueducts for the fey cats to travel along. The tower is very slowly turning and has clocks scattered throughout that show the time in the place from which the party entered.

Entry Way
The entryway is a tall, almost cylindrical towering room with nine walls made of vast stained glass windows with ornate designs representing the nine schools of magic. In the center of the room is a winding brass staircase that leads up onto a platform about ten feet in the air with a brass railing around it, at the same height as the bottom of the windows. Looking up, you can see up to the top of the tower. Forty feet above is another nine-sided hole, and beyond that is more space and another nine-sided hole, and beyond that, it starts to get dimmer, but there are at least two more holes still visible. There are nine floors in total. From the center of the platform, thinking "up" causes visitors to rise up through the hole above.

Great Hall
The next floor of the tower is an empty, nine-sided room, not as tall as the first. The room is lit by two rings of floating globules of light, one hovering five feet above the floor, and the other near the ceiling. On each of the nine walls are beautiful wooden Zemnian design sliding doors, all closed, and in each of the corners, at the floor level, are little wooden holes or portcullises, and above those sliding doors are small wooden aqueduct-like ramps or tracks built into the walls, some diagonal, some straight.

The doors in this room, when opened, reveal rooms that can become whatever is wanted at that moment, such as a target practice room, or a party room. There is a hot tub behind one of the doors.

The Salon
The Salon is an immense library on three levels interconnected by wooden spiraling staircases. There is a large fireplace, with stained glass of the same width above reminiscent of Mollymauk's coat. The library is filled with every book that Caleb has ever read. On the second level, on one side, is a large wooden table shaped like the continent of Wildemount, with maps hanging on the walls near it. In different levels are little reading nooks and cozy corners, lit by scattered globules of light. Hidden among the shelves are more of the small wooden tracks.

Fourth Floor
The central landing here is a small wooden nine-sided room with a single door leading to the dining room and from there to the kitchens and the nerve center of the pathways used by the fey cat servants.

Dining Room
The dining room is shaped like a pie wedge, with very large table in front of a large fireplace with a crackling fire. There are buffet tables and side tables piled high with food. There are swinging doors on the walls of either side of the room.

Kitchens
To the right is a kitchen that smells of pastries, cakes, and sweets, and there are cats everywhere, of all sizes from tigers to kittens, carrying trays and kitchen equipment on their prehensile tails. Occasionally one leaps on one of the winding wooden ramps on the walls and disappears into a hole. To the left is another kitchen cooking meats and other savory dishes, and again manned by cats using prehensile tails to manipulate the cooking equipment. Caleb explained that in each of the bedrooms was a red rope pull next to the fireplace that when tugged, summons one of the smaller cats through a small latched door on each floor.

The cats can also use their tails for other services, such as playing music at dinner.

Fifth Floor
All of the individual bedchambers in the tower are on the same basic plan: a sitting room with a fireplace with stained glass above it and a small rounded table with a stack of five books, then a door to the right leading to a unique private sitting area, followed by another door leading to a bedroom with a bath. On each floor, three sets of three rooms curve around the nine-sided doughnut of the tower. The five books in each room are the same: Tusk Love, The Courting of the Crick, Der Katzenprinz, Change and the Potentials of Transmutability, and Die Waldhexe und andere Zemnische Volksmärchen (The Forest Witch and Other Zemnian Folk Tales).

The central landing for the lower bedchambers on the fifth floor is small, with three doors split evenly across its nine walls. One is decorated with a scarab beetle, one with lilacs, and the third is plain.

Caduceus's Room
The door with the scarab beetle marks Caduceus's room. The furniture is simple, wooden, and firbolg-sized, reminiscent of his home in the Blooming Grove. There is another fireplace with a fire burning and a stained glass window, this one depicting the story of Clay, Stone, and Dust. On the left are beasts of the wild within a cavern of red and gold. At the center is a pool of water surrounded by caverns of crystal with plants and flowers growing about it, all in glass, and at the right, a pool of fiery magma within a cavern of obsidian. There is a tea station in the corner with endless boiling water.

The second chamber in Caduceus's suite holds an eclectic assortment of fungi, crystal formations, ferns, and other plants. There is a potted plant that is home to a small colony of bioluminescent beetles. The final room contains a very large four-posted firbolg-sized bed, and a brass bathtub with steam rising off of hot water within it.

Yasha's Room
The lilac door is Yasha's. Again, the first room is a sitting area with a fireplace, and the stained glass above it depicts the symbol of the Stormlord against a clouded background with grey and lavender flowers along the bottom edge and hints of lightning hidden in the clouds. This room is exploding with flowers to the point the walls can no longer be seen. There are pressed flowers hanging on the walls, there are vases of flowers, there are potted plants everywhere.

The door leads to a far emptier room with a simple straw mat on the floor before a reproduction of the mural Jester painted on the wall of Yasha's room in The Xhorhaus, but the flowers shift in the breeze ever so slightly. The bedroom holds more pressed flowers, bedding reminiscent of Xhorhasian design, and the same brass tub of steaming water and four-post bed. There is also a terrarium full of insects, which are either for viewing or possibly snacks.

Guest Room
The guest room holds a very nondescript fireplace, cozy Zemnian wooden furniture and architecture with a small side table next to the fireplace with a stack of five books on it, several cozy chairs, some water in a pitcher, and a door leading to another room.

When it was first occupied, by Dagen Underthorn, Caleb customized it with stained glass depicting wolves and bacon. The central room had axes hanging on the wall and a fully stocked wet bar. When the Tombtakers used it, the sitting room was covered in stained glass windows showing scenes of Mollymauk, the Fletching and Moondrop Traveling Carnival of Curiosities, and the city in the astral sea. The sitting room had bunkbeds, and the bedroom's draperies were Mollymauk's ornate coat.

Sixth Floor
The central chamber on the sixth floor is similar to the previous one. The doors are decorated with an anchor, a symbol of the Cobalt Soul, and an archway, respectively.

Fjord's Room
The stained glass above the fireplace in Fjord's room depicts a sailing vessel at sea. The walls of all three rooms are designed to look like the inside of a ship, with porthole windows spaced out all throughout the quarters, but the glass is thick and opaque. Fjord's sitting room side table has the same design as the altar top of Dashilla’s briny lair, just as a reminder. The center room is very sparsely furnished as a meditation room, with a mat laid out on the floor. On the wall hangs an old yellowed map of the waters and islands of the Menagerie Coast. Standing on the opposite wall is a stone statue of the Wildmother, who is draped with growing, curling ivy and vines. His bedroom also holds a four-post bed and a steaming brass tub, but there is also a hammock bolted into the ceiling.

Beauregard's Room
Beauregard's sitting room stained glass shows a picture of the Mighty Nein, standing with their backs to the viewer, looking off into the hills and fields of the Empire. The middle room is mostly empty, but there are sashes in cobalt blue draped around the room and three bo staffs hanging decoratively on one wall. There is a polished wooden fighting post in one corner with blue bands wrapped around it. There is a writing desk and quills and a stack of blank paper. The bedroom holds a four post bed done in blue and the same bathtub. However, when a rope is pulled while lying in the bed, curtains part on the roof of the bed to reveal a full-sized mirror hung there.

Jester's Room
Jester's room is marked by the symbol of the Traveler. The doorway and the one that leads further in have little gemstones built into the sides, subtly reminiscent of the Traveler’s gate. The stained glass above the fireplace depicts the coastal cityscape of Nicodranas and the Lavish Chateau, with a small red figure on the balcony, arm outstretched toward the water. The decor and furniture in the room re-create the design and decor of the Chateau. The next room is a very well-stocked art studio, with paintings and chalks and ink and lots of paper, painting easels and canvases that sit waiting for creation. The walls are all blank and white, ready to be whatever Jester chooses. There is also a small side table full of pastries and a bowl of blueberries in the corner.

The bedroom is a re-creation of Jester's bedroom in the Chateau, but in the nature of an homage, an updated version. It has all the same elements, but is equal parts whimsy and elegance. The windows match the windows in her old room, but are actually all stained glass re-creating the views from her room. There is a small selection of framed art pieces on the walls, mirroring a few of the bits of art on her walls, including a very early sketch and also one of the most detailed, and one of her mother. Three lanterns hang about the room, illuminating it. The canopy bed is just as frilly, but again is a little more sumptuous and refined. On the underside of the canopy is the same painting that she did of Nicodranas, the lighthouse and the sea, but as in Yasha’s room, the painting is undulating ever so imperceptibly, and one can hear quiet sounds of the city and the ocean after staring at it for a moment.

Seventh Floor
The upper bedroom's central chamber on the seventh floor is similar to the previous one. One door is slightly tinted green, one of them has amber veins going through it, and the third is plain.

Caleb's Room
Caleb's front room has no stained glass window and nondescript furniture.

Veth's Room
Veth's room has a stained glass window depicting three halflings walking down a countryside road among wildflowers. Most of the furniture is halfling-sized, but there are one or two larger chairs. There is also an earthen container holding a variety of walking sticks, and all around the room are glass bowls and open jewelry boxes filled with some colorful gemstones, but primarily buttons. Uniquely, this room has a second door to the left.

The next chamber to the right is a children's room for Luc, full of toys, hobby horses, stuffed dolls in the various forms that Frumpkin can take, game boards, playing cards, and lots of archery targets. There is a proper oil painting of the Brenatto family hanging on the wall. Veth's bedroom has a halfling-sized four-post bed that includes a pull-out trundle bed as well.

Laboratory and Study
The second door in Veth's room leads into a combination laboratory and study, with a giant slate on the wall with chalk markings already on it, a slate on the ground, and tables with alchemical equipment and paper everywhere.

Eighth Floor
This floor is only accessible by saying the phrase "Fort, doch nicht vergessen" (which roughly translates to "gone, but not forgotten" in English). The wooden room contains nine doors.

The First Chamber
The first chamber is a recreation of Caleb's childhood home in Blumenthal, complete with a kitchen and dining room, a set of creaky stairs, and a bed loft. It is a very humble small cottage-style home with a meager hearth, wooden furniture and a small shelf of ragged books. Caleb slept upstairs in the loft which contains a small, simple bed with a circle of rags for a cat to sleep in next to it.

The Fourth Chamber
The fourth chamber is a very small room with a opaque Tudor-style window, a desk and chair, and a disheveled small bed, a reproduction of Astrid's dorm room in the Soltryce Academy.

The Sixth Chamber
Behind the sixth door is a chamber presumed to be a replica of the chamber at the Soltryce Academy where Trent Ikithon implanted residuum crystals into Bren, Astrid, and Eadwulf. The surprisingly large stone room holds three wooden chairs with leather straps, old crusted-over metal trays holding tools and green gritty dust, and matted hay in one corner.

The Ninth Chamber
The ninth chamber is a recreation of the inside of the The Nestled Nook Inn, where the Mighty Nein first met.

Ninth Floor
The ninth floor was designed to be reminiscent of the experience of staring into a Luxon Beacon. It holds a sea of stars, and shows multiple versions of each viewer walking along multiple paths that appear to go on forever.

History
Liam revealed that Caleb had been thinking about the design of the tower ever since the Iron Shepherds kidnapped several members of the Mighty Nein overnight in Fessuran 835 PD, more than eight months earlier. During their stay on Rumblecusp, Caleb often took out the components for the spell and played around with them in anticipation of soon figuring out to cast it.

 Caleb revealed his tower for the first time, setting up the entrance in the rented bedroom of a Rexxentrum inn, shortly after the dinner with Trent Ikithon. Caleb gave the Nein a tour of all but the top two floors of the tower. Jester later Polymorphed into a cat and explored the passages hidden inside the wall, eventually discovering the central area from which cats were dispatched. That night, while the others were in their rooms, Caleb visited the sixth room on the eighth floor.

 The Mighty Nein invited a group of yetis to spend the night in the tower.

 After everyone went to bed, Caleb visited the fourth room on the sixth floor for the first time.

 Caleb cast the tower spell and rushed everyone inside while the Tombtakers were setting up camp. The group had a few minutes of privacy to discuss what they wanted to do, but were interrupted by Lucien knocking on the door. Caleb opened it just long enough to tell him he was not welcome inside, and Lucien immediately dispelled the mansion, saying it made him uncomfortable. Caleb later used the tower as a bargaining chip, convincing Lucien to let him have a look at his book in exchange for staying in the tower the next night.

 Since Lucien upheld his part of the deal, the Tombtakers were let into the tower for one night. While showing them around, the Mighty Nein wondered what was on the two floors they hadn't seen yet, and Caleb reluctantly agreed to show them. On the eighth floor, they picked three random rooms to look into, and entered the ninth, first, and fourth rooms. Caleb became very emotional when visiting the first room, as he had not been in his childhood house since he burned it down years before.

At one point, Jester Polymorphed herself and Lucien into cats, and showed him around the back passageways. To avoid Lucien entering the room where the Nein were grouped up, Caleb ordered all the fey cats to block every entrance by bunching up together in the passageways.

Cat servants
The Nein-Sided Tower is waited upon by one hundred transparent amber fey cats of all sizes. Frumpkin is not one of these, but in the tower Caleb identifies him as "the best boy, the house cat, the head cat" of the other cats. Most cats are named by Liam O'Brien (in character as Caleb), but some are named by other players; some cats named by Liam have German names (Bruno, Gretchen, Johann, Kaspar, Liesl, Mitzi, Nina, Rudi, and Ruth), though not all. The following fey cats have been identified by name:

Trivia

 * According to Liam, the tower is a representation of Caleb's mind and current feelings. The first seven levels represent his love for his friends, the eight represents his guilt and scars, and the ninth represents his hope. The last two levels weren't created by Caleb intentionally, but rather are a part of him that he can't ignore.
 * The wand used as a component in casting this spell was given to Caleb by Calianna, who sent it to him in a package containing gifts for every member of the Mighty Nein. She explained in a letter that she was told every wizard needs a wand, and since she had not seen Caleb with one, she wanted to give him this one. According to Calianna, the man who made it carved it from a tree that had burned down in a forest fire. Whilst a lot of the wood burns and blackens in fire, some of it becomes very strong and especially good at channeling fire magic. The wand is not enchanted, and has no power on its own.
 * Early in the second campaign, when asked which spells he looked forward to casting the most, Liam O'Brien said, "I really want to get my hands on the Mansion. Yeah, I want Caleb's Mansion."
 * Sam Riegel has suggested two alternative names for the tower, in-stream as "Nott's Nascent Nine-Sided Tower" and in a tweet as "Brenattower".
 * Marisha Ray has declared Beau's bedroom "Aboderegard".
 * The cover art for the upcoming graphic novel about Caleb's past appears to be set in the room that was reproduced behind the sixth door on the eighth floor. The image matches the room's description, featuring a stone floor and three wooden chairs with leather straps.
 * Vox Machina also used a pocket dimension dwelling as a portable base over the course of the first campaign: a large mansion created by Scanlan Shorthalt.