Alchemists' Tower

The Alchemists' Tower has a rather misleading name: the entire complex is underground. Most alchemists instead refer to their headquarters as "The Pit". There are only two ways to enter the tower: with a teleportation spell given to alchemists and to trusted magic users from other classes, as well as a tunneled entrance in the Evercrest courtyard used by the skavos and non-magic visitors. To prevent unwanted visitors (as well as keep people from falling into the tunnel's entrance after some previous mishaps), a skavo and their rider are posted here at all times; students and mentors alike are on a rotating shift schedule, although with so many alchemists it fortunately takes awhile before one's name comes up again. A system of small, hardly visible ventilation ducts lets in fresh air and cycles out smoke and fumes.

The tower is roughly divided into two levels. Level one is located several stories underground and is the main living and working space for the alchemists. The library is the central point of level one: it is a gigantic, circular area from which eight different, half-mile long halls branch, similar to an eight-point compass rose. Each hall is accordingly referred to by a directional point, such as the North Hall, the Southeast Hall, etc.

Because each hall on level one was dug by skavos, they are all wide enough for two skavos to comfortably walk side by side, with domed ceilings a full story in height above the average skavo. The walls are streaked with the natural patterns of the stone they were dug into and have been worn smooth over the centuries; small niches have been carved by students over the years at random intervals to display their creations. The most notable of these decorations is a golden skull made by an unknown student that is on display in the Northeast Hall; students leave tiny creations of their own as offerings in its niche before exams as a good luck charm. Lanterns and chandeliers on elegantly-carved filigree chains hang from the ceilings (fortunately, high enough to avoid a poor skavo hitting their head on them) every few feet. The lanterns have been magically enhanced to glow brightly, meaning there are very few spots in the halls not bathed in warm firelight.

North Hall
The North Hall is also known as the Head's Quarters. This hall belongs solely to the class head and their dragon. The hallway opens into a massive domed room that is utilized as the foyer; the current class head, Theia Rosewood, has this room decorated with a large marble fountain that depicts a skavo and alchemist working together over a book of alchemical symbols (that the two figures look remarkably like her and her dragon Xanthe is, of course, entirely a coincidence). Two smaller halls branch off from this foyer: one leads to the head's living spaces, while the other leads to the head dragon's personal den.

Behind an elegantly-carved wooden door is yet another foyer; the beginning of the current head's living area. This room also has a golden statue (made by Theia herself) of the alchemist class symbol and several silk-cushioned sofas for those waiting to be called into her office. There are again two branches in this foyer: a door to her office, and a door leading to the head's bedroom and bathroom, kitchen, and personal laboratory. There are other rooms in this space, locked very securely away and holding the most confidential and secret information the alchemists have collected over the centuries. No one outside a class head has ever been in these rooms.

The door to the office leads to a two-storied, wood-paneled library. The top floor is Theia's personal library, with access to its books only given to those she grants permission. The main office space is a grand cherry wood desk, more bookshelves, and a seating area. It is always immaculately clean in here, and thanks to some clever decorating choices a visitor can temporarily forget they're deep underground. Unsettling to some is the presence of theiasium, an element that glows with a bright blue light, scattered around the room that gives some areas a blue tinge.

South Hall
The main entrance, used by the skavos and non-magic visitors, empties out into the South Hall. Visitors continue straight on, while skavos looking to return to the dragonkeep use a tunnel off to the right that drops down to level two.

The South Hall is the main entertainment and lounge area for alchemists. Rooms large enough to accommodate riders and dragons alike are located on both sides of the wall. Vending machines, sofas, and entertainment systems can be found in the South Hall, although many alchemists choose to shun these areas in favor of the quiet atmosphere of the library. The South Hall is utilized by rowdier alchemists and those looking to entertain visiting friends, but riders and dragons who like to socialize together will often meet here as well since riders cannot go into the dragonkeep.

East Hall
The East Hall is solely comprised of classrooms and training areas. Traditional looking classrooms take up the first half of the hall, and in the back are large dome-shaped arenas where magic is practiced, as well as training with dragon/rider pairings. After the day's training instruction hours are over, the arenas are open for personal practice and practice with one's dragon. Informal competitions between friends and classmates often take place in these arenas, and the class head will sometimes deliver speeches in the largest of them.

West Hall
The West Hall is where the alchemists' keep all of their laboratories (save the class head's personal one in their quarters). The labs are all completely modern, with state of the art equipment and sterilized spaces to prevent contamination of samples. The labs come in various sizes, and those working on research projects can apply to the class head to be given a private, locked lab for their work. Two expansive labs at the back of the hall are used for instruction purposes with students.

Living Spaces
Students live in the Northwest and Northeast Halls. Rooms are shared by two students, assigned by lottery at the beginning of the term unless a specific request is made. Each room has a closet, bunk beds along one wall and a pair of desks on the other; these days, alchemist students sleep in comfort, with top of the line mattresses and bedding (good sleep leads to good quality work, after all). The rooms mostly are lit by torchlight, but a sunlamp has been added to each room for students to use to counteract the vitamin D deficiencies and depression that living underground can produce. The ceilings are high and domed like they are throughout the rest of the tower, and many students work with their roommate to paint the ceiling in various patterns and images to personalize the room. Students are, in fact, free to decorate their room as they please, so long as the furniture is left as they found it.

Bathrooms are shared between every four rooms, so sixteen to a bathroom. A row of showers in each keeps most squabbling to a minimum, however. There are several kitchens in each hall as well that are kept-well stocked for those who don't wish to go to Evercrest's main cafeteria; an alchemist student, as a result, may very rarely have to surface from the tower if they don't wish to.

Mentors live in the Southwest and Southeast Halls. Like the student rooms, they come with high ceilings, torchlight and a sunlamp. Fortunately for mentors, however, they live in greater luxury; each mentor has a bedroom with a queen bed and wooden bedroom furniture set, as well as a private bathroom, kitchen, living area and small office. The only hardship a mentor might face is their role as their student's advocate; mentors must check in on how their student is faring with their roommate and help settle room and bathroom disputes if they occur.

The Alchemical Library
The Alchemical Library is the largest at Evercrest. The central hub of level one, it is five stories tall in total with the same characteristic domed ceiling of the rest of the tower. No one has ever bothered to officially measure it, but if asked how large it is an alchemist will likely just say: "damn huge". There is a floor for history and a floor for medicine, and the other three floors are dominated by the sciences. Artifacts and prized books in glass cases can be found dotted around. Each floor has reading areas and desks that have been placed in large alcoves along the walls. The bottom floor has rooms set aside for group studying as well.

The library is entirely open: one can look up from the bottom floor and see up to the top floor. The ceiling is painted with an enchanted evening sky that changes to reflect the constellations that are currently above Evercrest. The library officially closes to visitors and students at midnight, but students with written permission from their mentor can stay at all hours. Only alchemists may check out books, and they cannot leave the tower. Certain books require the head's permission to check out, and still others cannot be checked out at all.

The library is probably the quietest area on campus; even sneezing might get you a dirty look from the person next to you. Unless you're asking the librarians a question or you’re in a group study room, you shouldn't be speaking a word inside here.

The Dragonkeep
The keep is all on level two, although that misleadingly makes it seem like the keep is comprised of one level. Instead, level two is a chaotic hodgepodge of an area. Skavos enter it from the South Hall, and from there it rapidly descends in a tunnel system down many, many floors deep into the mountain. Skavos over the years have made branches into the main tunnel for their own living spaces and large areas to socialize in. Today, so many holes and alcoves and entire quarters of rooms have been dug out that it is unnecessary for a new skavo to dig their own; they can simply claim a vacant one left behind by another dragon. Many still choose to burrow out their own areas however, and territorial disputes are not entirely uncommon. As such, the class head's dragon must from time to time settle problems and even assign living spaces to dragons who insist on quarrelling.

Living areas closest to the South Hall entrance are reserved for elderly skavos and the dragons of mentors, and only the class head's dragon lives on level one. The living areas of each skavo vary widely on personal presence; everyone is entitled to a space large enough for them to comfortably sleep and move around, but some choose to dig out extra rooms that they fill with trinkets they like and gifts from their riders.

Today, the keep has become such an expansive and ever-changing system that no map of it exists; after several enterprising students attempted to explore it and went missing a century ago, it has become forbidden for riders to enter the keep unless they are being escorted by their dragon. Dragons and riders instead usually socialize together in the South Hall or out on the Evercrest grounds.

Fortunately for riders and skavos alike, the skavos' telepathy makes it easy to coordinate meeting each other when needed. A rider or dragon will call to the other to meet them in the South Hall rather than attempting to brave getting together in the keep.