Chapter 3: When a Star Falls - Quests from the Infinite Staircase

Chapter 3: When a Star Falls. For centuries, the Tower of the Heavens has stood silhouetted against the glittering night sky. The tower is a bastion of destiny where gifted sages peer into the future, doling out prophecies to visitors. When one such sage foresees a falling star, it sets in motion a series of events that threatens to put the power of prophecy into dangerous hands. "When a Star Falls" is designed for four to six 4th-level characters. In an event foretold by the Books of Prophecy, a falling star lands in the Tegefed Mountains Background According to local legend, the sages of the Tower of the Heavens can glimpse the future. Suppliants journey from distant regions to the tower, each bringing gold and a single question about their fate in hopes of receiving an answer from the sages. Unknown to outsiders, the sages' talents come from their best-guarded secret: a series of ancient, magical tomes called the Books of Prophecy. The books chronicle events that have happened and those yet to pass; each cryptic page might detail a fate days, months, or years in the future. Shalfey, Elder Sage of the Tower of the Heavens, inherited the magic required to read these books from the line of sages who came before him-but this magic prevents him from turning more than one new page per day, allowing only a peek at the future. To keep the Books of Prophecy secret, the sages make a great show of the study and practice of astrology, pretending to divine the future from the stars. A Door to the Tower of the Heavens A few days ago, Shalfey turned a page of his current Book of Prophecy and found it blank. Worse still, he found he now could turn the rest of the pages, which were also blank, save for the last. There, in clear words, the book foretold the arrival of a falling star-and the existence of a second set of Books of Prophecy possessed by a group of svirfneblin smiths. The elder sage resolved to plot the star's course, recover it, and trade it to the svirfneblin for...