Friday, April 10, 2009

Nuggets of History from the Sentinel

Please add anything I missed to the comments. A lot of information came out of this and it would be a shame to lose it. Note I also did a lot of copy/paste, so some of the tense, etc may not be correct.

Leenia asked: What information it may have regarding the pieces of the Rod of Death and rebirth. She would like to know if it is known where the four pieces to the Rod are and what will happen when they are reunited.

Sentinel: When I last glimpsed the Rod of Death and Rebirth, it was used to help overthrow Morbius and retake the city. It is in fact the artifact that the Harper's used to decimate his undead forces. However, after expending that much energy, the rod was shattered back into its 4 component parts. Those parts faded away to be hidden throughout the world.
One piece stayed within the range of my vision. It is in an ancient monastery high atop a mountain in the Glorioles.

Be aware, this monastery was one of the last places to fall. It withstood numerous onslaughts throughout 3 centuries before finally succumbing to a vampire that managed to infiltrate and destroy the monastics.

Just to head off the followup question, the Glorioles are several days journey to the west.

Leenia: Can the Sentinel tell us how to inflict injury on Acererak?

Sentinel: Acererak is a truly horrifying opponent. Like most undead, he is immune to poison, sleep, and disease. He regenerates and is also resistant to psychic and necrotic damage. As with all undead, Radiant damage will negate his regeneration. He can drain and consume souls.

Finally, like all liches, destroying his body is not enough. If destroyed, he will reappear next to his phylactery in one day's time. To truly defeat him, you must destroy both he and his phylactery.

Alexander:
(1) What do you know of the platinum dragon egg? We had one in our possession, but it was taken from us by the shark people.
(2) Do you know where the egg is located now?
(3) You've been in existence for millenia. You've seen dragons born and die of old age. What will happen when this egg hatches? What will happen if the egg is not in our possession?
(4) What plane is it in which the fortress of Acerake resides? When we use the rod to transport there, what plane are we on? How does time pass there? Comparable with our plane? Or if we sleep there, is it frozen, much like the pocket universe we found with the githyanki?
(5) If we are clever about using the rod, can we trap other creatures there in Acerak's domain an eternal prison? Such as Demonicus and his tiefling minions? What is the range of the teleportation? Is it within the teleportation circle?
(6) Can you tell us about the other doors that we could not open in Acerak's domain? How can they be opened?
(7) How old are you? When were you born? Were you a human, originally? For whom do you record history? Why do you record history? For what purpose? Are you intended to provide an accounting of all that you have seen at some future point?
(8) Where may we find other Sentinels such as yourself? Do they have specialties?
(9) Our island has a library - a great library that is a place of learning. Our peoples have lost much knowledge since the Darkness. You could become a great teacher, ensuring all that you have learned of history is recorded for all the civilized races to read in the future. Would you consider allowing yourself to be transported to our island to reside among scholars?
(10) What do you know of the Harpers? You said they used a powerful artifact to destroy the organization that used these caverns. How? Tell us the story.
(11) You said there are those who think themselves Harpers, but are not. Who are they? Where can they be found?
(12) What is the history of the Harpers? Who founded them? How were they founded? Why were they founded?
(13) All I currently have is the Harper Charter. Can you direct me to other documentation on this secretive society?
(14) The Harpers were said to have quiet places, secret strongholds, scattered throughout the land. Do you know of the locations of any of these places?
15. I will promise nothing, however, I will only share with him, or anyone else, what I have shared with you.
16. The use of any anti-scrying magic or ritual can obscure you from my sight. I cannot teach it to anyone even if I knew it.

Sentinel to Alexander:
1. Wow, someone rememebered the Dragon Egg that Stephen gave you. The sahugin who took it brought it back to their home and intend to use it in one of their rituals. I am not certain which one, but if I am correct, I suspect it will turn the platinum dragon into something extremely evil, corrupt, and vicious. It is a long ritual(several months) and I urge you to stop it and recover the egg.
2. At one point, you were given a location of their home. It is there. Rard and Richard can point you to it as they know enough to stay away.
3. If the egg hatches, and you are around to help the infant dragon, it is likely that it will return to it's kind with tales of your bravery, kindness, and plans to restore good to the world. That might be enough to entice the dragons to return. If it is recovered and someone is not there to assist in it's hatching, it will likely die shortly after birth. I already told you what happens if you do not recover it.
4. The Tower of Acererak is located deep within the Shadowfell. Time passes the same there as it does here. The rod is mearly a conduit to allow a specific teleportation circle to link to the one in the tower.
5. I assume if you are clever, you could transport someone else to the Tower. How Acererak responds will be the determining factor on what happens. I do not know what the tower is like, so I can only give limited information.
6. Since I cannot see the Tower, I can only tell you what I know from observing Morbius on this plane. During the time of Acererak's dominance in this world, 5000 years ago, he had 4 lieutenants: Morbius, Simon, and 2 others. From what I could tell from Morbius, each was given a section of the tower that could not be accessed by the others. Entrance to the tower was keyed to the portion of the soul that was imbued into the rod. At one point, Morbius alluded to the fact that if all 4 rods where brought together, there is a door there that would provide direct access to some form of Acererak.
7. I am ancient, older than I can remember. I know I volunteered for this assignment, along with many others. Not all were chosen. After being selected, we forfeited our bodies, memories, basically, our whole being. Yes, we are the recorders of history. Why or by whom we were created, I do not know, but I suspect it is for reasons such as this...to provide unbiased history, even after 1000s of years.
8.I know there are other sentinels, but I do not know where they are, assuming they haven't been destroyed. We all do the same thing, record history for our portion of the world.
9. I am not a teacher. I am a recorder of history. I will answer questions put to me, but not volunteer additional information. I cannot be removed from this chamber. If someone came to visit and asked me to tell him what I have seen so he could record it, I will do that as long as it does not impact current events or give you an advantage over an opponent.
10. The Harpers are an ancient organization that believed in the greater good. While they have drifted from that edict several times throughout history, it has been their most guiding principal, and is what they are most remembered for.
After Morbius had conquered the city, and the rest of Acererak's lieutenants had done the same to a fair portion of Idera, a secret council was held at the Citadel of Seasons. It was shielded from all scrying, so I do not know what transpired. I can tell you it was publicly attended by the Harpers, the Brotherhood of the Sun, and the most powerful mages and priests of the time. I do not know if anyone covertly arrived once my ability to scry was blocked. When the day was done, 4 artifacts of exceptional power were produced. One was used against each of the lieutenants to devastate their undead armies. The relics were consumed during their use and nothing remains of them except a memory.
11. The Harpers are a name that has survived 1000's of years of history. In my recent past, they have been scattered to the wind. While few had survived the initial war with the darkness, those that had, worked to recreate the organization. Unfortunately, their efforts were in vain. Few people were left and even fewer had the noble bearing to be Harpers. For the most part, those that now call themselves Harpers are thieves and cutthroats who use the name to bring a false sense of security to those they are "helping". Often charging exhorbant rates, which is against the charter, and not even completing the task. I cannot give further details as it would influence your plans.
12. The Charter you have explains much, as does the history you have already heard. They were started by a human named Joshua(what the hell) and his brothers over 7500 years ago. Their initial goal was to stop several petty warlords from fighting over several provinces, with their main goal that of protecting the people. After several years of hard work, they succeeded and became advisors to the new leaders. Shortly after that, they were asked to help mediate another longstanding dispute and so they did, spreading their beliefs and for the most part, bettering mankind. This continued for thousands of years.
13. I am not aware of any specific documents detailing them, but your best solution would be to search out ancient libraries and books in the hope of learning of their history.
14. The only large structure I am aware of that they used was an ancient ruin they occupied for sometime. I believe they were trying to find something there. I would not call it a stronghold, but there was definitely a much large concentration of Harpers located there, than anywhere else I could see. South of the Vast Swamp and Spine Ridge in a place call Ekul.
15. I will promise nothing, however, I will only share with him, or anyone else, what I have shared with you.
16. The use of any anti-scrying magic or ritual can obscure you from my sight. I cannot teach it to anyone even if I knew it.

Mara:
1. What do you know about the beginning of the Darkness?
2. What do you know about the Feywild?
3. The portals of the Fey have been closing since the beginning of the darkness. Do you know what or who is causing them? Do you know how to stop it?
4. Can you tell us about worldfalls, and how to travel through them? Once we cross over to another plane, is there another way to get back, or do we have to wait for the planes to cross again?
5. What worldfalls do you know about? Where are they located?
6. Is there a way to trigger the crossing of planes in a Worldfall without waiting for the planes to cross on their own?

Sentinel to Mara:
1. My initial memories of the Darkness are of a great wave of monsters entering my field of vision. They bordered on unstoppable. What was left of the army of the civilized races was already defeated by the time the Darkness came into view. The few remaining wizards and warriors fought to their deaths to try to slow the onslaught in hopes of giving people time to escape out to sea and for Stephen to realize his plan.
2. Very little. I have no ability to see into other planes. From my perspective, the Fey is the plane of life and light, while the Shadowfell is the plane of death and darkness. Those are absolutes, which the planes surely aren't.
3. I am unable to answer this question for 2 reasons. 1. My knowledge of the planes and planar travel is limited. I can tell you that your information is correct in that the portals are few and far between. 2. I cannot give information to you that would influence current events.
4. A worldfall is where 2 planes intersect and for a brief time, small locations exchange places. Then it is as simple as walking into them. All you have to do is leave the worldfall before the planes disjoin and you are back in your home.
5. I know of the one you are heading for, and it is slightly different than the typical ones. This one manifests more like a gate than a worldfall. It is 2 way, so you can return home, and it will last from sun up to sun down. I can also tell you that once every 100 years, this worldfall is special in that it acts as a nexus for numerous planes to share a worldfall, ultimately meeting in the Fey. Conveniently, the upcoming one is one of the nexus ones.
6. There is no way to trigger a worldfall. It is a natural event that happens when planes intersect. However, particularly high level Wizards are able to use special rituals to create planar gates.

Ekerrath:

1) How can you control the plane you end up in at a nexus worldfall?
2) What abilities does the Sword of Ekerrath currently bestow upon it's owner? Does this change? Does it's effect on the owner's actions change over time?
3) Where can we find concentrations of free races on the mainland, particularly pockets of Dragonborn?

Sentinel to Ekeraath:
1. I do not know. But no one entering it has ever not returned at the end of the day.
2. I believe you are asking about the Sword of Acecerak. You really should work on learning the proper names of things. It makes it much easier to communicate. I do not know what abilities it bestows upon it's owner. It is an intelligent item, containing part of the soul of Simon Amber. As such, it can hide itself from me much in the same way I said Simon might be able to.
3. Concentrations are few a far between. You already know there is a large population of Dragonborn in Grandwood forest. There is also a large group of elves there.
There is a moderate sized dwarven settlement deep under the Gull Cliffs.
Just about every group, except the dwarves, has a sizeable settlement hidden in the Vast Swamp.
Humans and halflings tend to have nomadic villages that break down quickly and move even faster. They are scattered everywhere.
Finally, you can assume any inhospitable place has some kind of settlement from some civilized race since they can hide there unmolested.

Kuppies:
1. Are there other groups of adventurers (Heroes) that are working for the common good as we are?
2. It seems like magic has taken a turn towards evil. Are there specific areas where magic is still used for good? Are there places where we can go to learn from master wizards?
3. I don't know if we covered this already, but does Domacos know about the worldfall? Is he planning on going to the Fey?
4. Where have some of the great battles against the darkness taken place? (Where can we find items that might help us in our journey?)
5. Has my twin brother come into your view?
6. Who's generally considered hotter, Leenia or Mara?

Sentinel to Kuppies:
1. Within my field of view, you are the focal point for activity to restore the common good. There are individuals revolving around you, but without you, they would lack the inspiration to proceed.
2. Magic has no alignment, it simply flows with the powers that be. With the Darkness in control for so long, it would seem magic has tipped into an evil direction, but that is not the case. I am not aware of any concentration of "good" magic, but that does not mean they do not exist. As I have stated before, there are ways to be shielded from my sight. To my knowledge, the best solution is to search out the former places of power and see what relics you can unearth.
3. I am not aware of what Damakos does and does not know. If I did, I would not be permitted to share it with you since it could alter current events.(I'm really digging this concept)
4. As I stated previously, by time I became aware of the Darkness, the battles that were fought were simply delaying tactics. Powerful relics can best be located deep in the former places of power, hidden with the remaining civilized survivors, or in tombs dedicated to those of ages past.
5. I have not observed him, but I may not have noticed as my attention typically is focused on events and not specific people.
6. Truly a question for the ages! In appearance, Leenia is more the classic beauty while Mara has a more wild/exotic attractiveness. They both have excellent bodies, with Leenia being a bit more voluptuous and Mara sporting a more athletic build. Hotness is truly something to be considered an "Eye of the Beholder" thing, yet, they are both ravishingly beautiful and any man should consider himself lucky simply to gaze upon them. I read this like a hour ago and keep chuckling about it. Hopefully I have answered the question satisfactorily.

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