The messenger riding his lathered mount crested the rise and saw the tower before him. Weary and saddle-sore from riding most of the night, he guided his roan mare down the path leading to the causeway. He had seen the jagged fang called the Tower of Yarthraak several times before, but it still made him shiver slightly, to be in sight of the High Temple of the Cult of the Sea-Drake. Many towers intimidated through their sheer size and the cunning artifice used in the construction. The home of the High-Priest of Yarthraak- paramount advisor to the Kingdom of Helyssa- intimidated not because of its' size, or its' design. No army or corps of engineers had built this particular citadel. Instead, the Priest had enlisted the creatures of the sea and caused them to rise up and apply themselves to the building of his tower. The result was a strange, organic structure, constantly being reinforced, alive with numberless animals of the sea. The Tower was literally a living thing- non-sentient and virtually immobile- but certainly it was alive... From a large window overlooking the approaching causeway, the High-Priest watched the messengers approach. His powers reached out, and briefly touched the messenger's mind. "What..!?" he exclaimed with a hiss- King Halek was dead, slain in a hunting accident; and Kier, the Crown-Prince, had vanished during the night- leaving a dead assassin in his bed-chamber. How had the foolish boy managed to kill a highly skilled assassin- and escape from the Royal Palace? The High-Priest then smiled as he touched the messengers mind again- the trusting fools were going to offer him the Regency. His own agents would hunt down the missing Heir and end his inconvenient life. The High-Priest delicately sipped from his wine goblet. His Master would be pleased: they were finally in a position to completely and utterly destroy the ancient realm of U-Lyshak- once and for all. The rest of the continent would then lie open to invasion... This is, sort-of, a follow-on to the image 'Uronthis Kalthul' and again is based on the 'Shadow World' RPG module, "Jaiman: Land of Twilight" by Terry Amthor. I'm now starting work on the Aalk Gaath- the fortress of the Dragonlord Oran Jatar. Tower of Yathraak and Torches constructed in Imagine For Windows, horse and Don posed using DAZ Studio, landscape created in Bryce 5.5. Rendered in Bryce (Although, I got tired of waiting for Bryce to Anti-Alias the image, and had Photoshop do it instead!)