Velious · The Scars of Velious
Tower of Frozen Shadow
The Tower of Frozen Shadow is a cursed school of the dead on the Icy Fingers: seven floors of undead scholars, servants and wedding guests, each locked by its own key, with Tserrina waiting at the top.
A tower on the ice
The massive seven-floor tower stands on the last of the Icy Fingers in the Iceclad Ocean, the far end of the island chain from the dock where the raft from North Ro lands. A classic zone atlas describes it as something like a school for the undead, with undead on every floor and a key needed to climb each level. Its tale is told in Tserrina and the Tower of Frozen Shadow.
Its history is uncertain, but a player guide says its people seem to have been brought here to stay safe during the war between the Erudites and the Heretics, before something cursed them to remain forever.
Sources: Allakhazam: Tower of Frozen Shadow (zone) · EQ Atlas (eqatlas.ca): Tower of Frozen Shadow · Project 1999 Wiki: Iceclad Ocean
Keys and mirrors
Each key is used on a mirror, which carries the group to the next floor; none are soulbound, so a player guide advises having an escape ready if the keyholder dies. Every floor also has an exit mirror outside. The mirrors are not zone lines, so monsters left behind keep chasing you.
a player guide lists the keys: the Crystal Key from a large undead gnoll for the second floor, the Three Toothed Key from an angry librarian for the third, the Frosty Key from an enraged shadow beast for the fourth, and so on up.
Sources: EQ Atlas (eqatlas.ca): Tower of Frozen Shadow · Allakhazam: Tower of Frozen Shadow (zone)
Floor by floor
The Atlas describes each floor. The first holds shadowbone skeletons and a slippery central pit. The second is the Library, ghostly students and librarians who are nearly all casters, with a secret bookcase in the northwest corner. The third is the Servants’ Quarters, a maze of corridors and false walls haunted by armoured shadows.
The fourth is the Crypt, with mummies, oozes and shadows, where killing Amonpheta makes Cara Omica appear with the next key. The fifth is the Wedding, where the bride Daman and the groom Nosja stand with their priest among undead guests. Monsters climb from about 28 at the bottom to 56 near the top.
Tserrina
At the top waits Tserrina, who a player guide says spreads terror through the rest of the tower. The Atlas notes that the tower’s evil spills onto the island around it, where its guardians are fiercer than other creatures in Iceclad.
The Iceclad Ocean is its only neighbour, as player guides agree; a player guide rates the tower 30 to 55.
Sources: Allakhazam: Tower of Frozen Shadow (zone) · EQ Atlas (eqatlas.ca): Iceclad Ocean · Project 1999 Wiki: Tower of Frozen Shadow
Lore tied to this zone
Sources: EQ Atlas (eqatlas.ca): Tower of Frozen Shadow · Allakhazam: Tower of Frozen Shadow (zone) · Project 1999 Wiki: Tower of Frozen Shadow