The Unbound Heights

A mountain top that has come loose from the world: a shattered observatory, snowy peaks above the clouds, sky isles and a crystal cave. Starwatch keeps its great telescope pointed at the stars.

Areas

• The Shattered Observatory: Astrolabe Crab, Orrery Sentinel, Moonmote
• The High Peaks: Astrolabe Crab, Gnomon, Wickmoth, Moonmote, Liftwing
• The Sky Isles: Orrery Sentinel, Gnomon, Wickmoth, Liftwing
• The Orrery Deeps: Seam Eater, Gnomon, Tome Mimic

Notable places

The Clock Tower Steps, The Shell Door, The Storm Wall, The Mirror Ward, The Star Court, The Archon's Seal, The Cave Mouth, The Star Vault, The Gale Isle, The Lower Floor.

Bosses

• Guardians: Constellation Fox, Rune Tortoise, Phase Serpent, Chronoceros
• Dragon: Aurophage
• Wizard: The Mirror Archon

Dungeons

• The Star Court: dungeon, Constellation Fox
• The Shell Vault: dungeon, Rune Tortoise
• The Phase Hall: dungeon, Phase Serpent
• The Clock Tower: dungeon, Chronoceros
• The Archon's Hall: wizard's stronghold, The Mirror Archon
• The Star Cave: hidden chamber
• The Fallen Star: hidden chamber
• The Null Vault: hidden chamber

Spells

• Taught by its bosses: Arcane Missiles, Rune Circle, Phase Shift, Gravity Well, Time Slow, Unmaking
• Found at shrines: Aura Drain, Mana Blade, Spell Mirror, Familiar

Creatures

Astrolabe Crab, Gnomon, Liftwing, Moonmote, Orrery Sentinel, Seam Eater, Tome Mimic, Wickmoth.

Quests

• Ondine's Lens
• Ambrose's Orrery
• Liesl's Great Chart
• Bertil's Star
• Liesl's Chart
• The Star-Stone Chip

Pieces of heart

The Unbound Heights has 2 challenges out in the open that pay out a piece of heart (ambushes to survive, lamp runs against the clock, buried hearts). More pieces wait in its dungeons, hidden chambers and quests.

Notes and inscriptions

The Catalogue of Stars (The Star Vault)

The star vault holds the observatory's great catalogue, every star named and placed. The astronomers left a pressed flower between two pages, from a hillside that is long gone.

The Isle Door (The Gale Isle)

On the far isle, an old door into the rock and a room where the star-folk kept their kites. One is still there, half finished, its frame painted with all the constellations of spring.

The Lens-grinders' Room (The Lower Floor)

The lower floor was the lens-grinders' room. The wheels are still set up, and in a cloth bag a lens so clear it seems to have no glass in it at all.

A Stargazer’s Margin

The charts say the cold star moves a hair’s width each winter. I have watched for thirty winters. It is a hair and a half.

The Last Pilgrim’s Word

Tied to the shrine: I came for the view and stayed for the quiet. If you came for either, sit a while.

A Torn Star Chart (The High Peaks)

The corner of a sky map with one small star circled and the word 'mine?' beside it. Starwatch apprentices are not allowed to name stars. It has never stopped them.

The Star Dial (The Clock Tower Steps)

The clock's star dial turns under the spell and stops on a night long gone, with every star where the old astronomers drew it.

The Astronomers' Map (The Overlook)

The parapet stones glow and draw lines across the sky between the stars, the old astronomers' map of the heavens, every star named.

The Borrowed Lens (The Shattered Observatory)

The spell eats the grime from a fallen lens and the stars come up in it, sharp as ever. Scratched on the brass: the Mirewife lent us her seeing-water once. We never gave it back.

The Watchers' Bell (The High Peaks)

Fire melts a bell out of the ice where it fell from the old watch tower. Its rim is cast with the names of the watchers, and the last name is only half cut, as if the bell were taken down before he finished.

The Gear-men's Vane (The Sky Isles)

The bolt wakes a dead weather vane and it turns, ticks and points: not north, but down the mountain toward Gearhaven. The gear-men built it. Their mark is on the shaft.

The Kite-maker's Cache (The Sky Isles)

The cracked boulder held a kite-maker's roll of silk and cane, and a star chart with one small star circled and the word: mine.

The Chart-maker's Case (The Orrery Deeps)

Water fills the dry star-basin and it shows the sky as the star-folk charted it. Tucked under the rim, a chart-maker's case: brass pins, a quill, and a half-finished map of the Tidelands coast, drawn as if from very high up.

A page torn from a notebook (Starwatch)

There are mirrors in every hall up here, and not one of them shows me as I am. So I made one that does, and I fill it with power until the one looking back is worth looking at. - A.

A Seat by the Road (The Shattered Observatory)

A ledge seat with nothing below it but cloud. The peaks step away toward the Storm Wall, sharp as a drawing.

A Shelter on the Road (The High Peaks)

A lean-to of rough timber and a fire ring still warm. Scratched on the post: Tie down anything you love. The wind takes it.

The High Bend (The High Peaks)

A cairn seat on the highest bend of the road. Below, the whole of the Heights falls away toward the Cave Mouth, and the wind sings in the stones.

Hidden things

Some spots answer to the right element. Cast it there and something comes back.

• The Clock Tower Steps (Arcane): The clock's star dial turns under the spell and stops on a night long gone, with every star where the old astronomers drew it.
• The Overlook (Arcane): The parapet stones glow and draw lines across the sky between the stars, the old astronomers' map of the heavens, every star named.
• The Shattered Observatory (Poison): The spell eats the grime from a fallen lens and the stars come up in it, sharp as ever. Scratched on the brass: the Mirewife lent us her seeing-water once. We never gave it back.
• The High Peaks (Fire): Fire melts a bell out of the ice where it fell from the old watch tower. Its rim is cast with the names of the watchers, and the last name is only half cut, as if the bell were taken down before he finished.
• The Sky Isles (Lightning): The bolt wakes a dead weather vane and it turns, ticks and points: not north, but down the mountain toward Gearhaven. The gear-men built it. Their mark is on the shaft.
• The Sky Isles (Force): The cracked boulder held a kite-maker's roll of silk and cane, and a star chart with one small star circled and the word: mine.
• The Orrery Deeps (Water): Water fills the dry star-basin and it shows the sky as the star-folk charted it. Tucked under the rim, a chart-maker's case: brass pins, a quill, and a half-finished map of the Tidelands coast, drawn as if from very high up.