The Hand Of Vecna [Archive] - Wizards Community

The Hand Of Vecna [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
Lukkychukky
05-09-07, 09:50 AM Alright...
So, I'm currently running the Age of Worms campaign with my group of four 19th level PCs. One of the adventures introduced a cleric named Darl Quethos. This particular cleric just so happened (note the past tense as this will come into play in a moment) to be the current owner of the infamous Hand of Vecna. Well, he managed to escape the group's wrath. I was excited! Finally, a villian who was able to thwart the group's power!
I wasn't planning on Serin, our 19th level spontaneous-casting cleric, to use a scroll of gate to bring Darl to the group. Needless to say the defeated him. Now they have the Hand and the wizard (AL NE) is very tempted to take the Hand and use it as a weapon against the enemy. The group concensus is to destroy it. Herein lies my problem...
Has anyone ever run a quest to destroy an artifact? If so, how did you set it up, and so forth? I could really use some ideas for destroying the Hand. Any help would be much appreciated! Thanks.
Anuvrix
05-09-07, 12:22 PM I ran a quest with a special artifact that was literally indestructible.
It was an Ioun stone, they had to find the origional unrefined substance and make an anvil, then have tiamat AND Bahamut work together to make a hemmer, so they could unforge it. hard to do.
Quade
05-09-07, 01:04 PM If it were me I would lay some heavy Role-playing into this. Find the history of the hand and add something from that history that would destroy it. The Sword of Kas for example would be a perfect example of something that would destroy the hand but would be almost equally has hard to find. It should be hard to destroy an artifact, very hard.

This may force your players to lock/hide the item away "forever" rather then destroying it, giving you the chance to bring it back at a later time for further story ideas.
Lukkychukky
05-09-07, 02:12 PM If it were me I would lay some heavy Role-playing into this. Find the history of the hand and add something from that history that would destroy it.

Thanks a lot for the suggestion! Your approach sounds the most logical; however, aside from the short (relatively) blurb in the DMG, I don't have much other history to go off of. Having them use the Sword of Kas sounds like a good idea, but this opens up the problem of what is to be done with the sword, you know?

It should be hard to destroy an artifact, very hard.

I was actually thinking that, in order to destroy the artifact, one of the PCs would actually have to give up their life in order to ensure the Hand is in fact destroyed. For instance, say when the One Ring fell into the heart of Mount Doom. Let's, for a moment, say it was powerful enough to manufacture a way out of the fire before it was completely destroyed. My line of thinking is having, say, Frodo jump into the fire whilst clutching the Ring in order to make sure it stays in the destructive lava.
Also, this not only provides a great role-playing moment (who will find the courage to rid Faerun of this dispicable artifact), but it forces the group to, as you said in your previous post, decide whether the life of a comrade is so readily given up if it could just be "locked away forever."
Lukkychukky
05-09-07, 02:46 PM I just figured it out...
I'm not very up to speed on environmental encounters, but with the help of Sandstorm, I think this following idea would be feasible...
A PC has to carry the Hand across the desert (maybe some long stretch of the Anauroch) for what seems like an unending distance. Just when it seems the end draws no closer, the PC finds himself at a ruined temple. Upon close inspection , the PC discovers the temple as a long abandoned church of (insert god who opposes Vecna here). In the courtyard lies a well, dried out except for about 4 inches of water on the bottom. Also, the body of a long dead preist lies in the water, causing whatever meager amount of water is in the well to be turned into holy water. Throwing the Hand into the water is what destroys the artifact. The resulting explosion deals no actual damage, but does suppress any magic within one mile for the period of a week. This again creates the challenge of not only getting to the temple alive with the aid of magic, but returning home without it.

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Lukkychukky 05-09-07, 09:50 AM	Alright... So, I'm currently running the Age of Worms campaign with my group of four 19th level PCs. One of the adventures introduced a cleric named Darl Quethos. This particular cleric just so happened (note the past tense as this will come into play in a moment) to be the current owner of the infamous Hand of Vecna. Well, he managed to escape the group's wrath. I was excited! Finally, a villian who was able to thwart the group's power! I wasn't planning on Serin, our 19th level spontaneous-casting cleric, to use a scroll of gate to bring Darl to the group. Needless to say the defeated him. Now they have the Hand and the wizard (AL NE) is very tempted to take the Hand and use it as a weapon against the enemy. The group concensus is to destroy it. Herein lies my problem... Has anyone ever run a quest to destroy an artifact? If so, how did you set it up, and so forth? I could really use some ideas for destroying the Hand. Any help would be much appreciated! Thanks.
Anuvrix 05-09-07, 12:22 PM	I ran a quest with a special artifact that was literally indestructible. It was an Ioun stone, they had to find the origional unrefined substance and make an anvil, then have tiamat AND Bahamut work together to make a hemmer, so they could unforge it. hard to do.
Quade 05-09-07, 01:04 PM	If it were me I would lay some heavy Role-playing into this. Find the history of the hand and add something from that history that would destroy it. The Sword of Kas for example would be a perfect example of something that would destroy the hand but would be almost equally has hard to find. It should be hard to destroy an artifact, very hard. This may force your players to lock/hide the item away "forever" rather then destroying it, giving you the chance to bring it back at a later time for further story ideas.
Lukkychukky 05-09-07, 02:12 PM	If it were me I would lay some heavy Role-playing into this. Find the history of the hand and add something from that history that would destroy it. Thanks a lot for the suggestion! Your approach sounds the most logical; however, aside from the short (relatively) blurb in the DMG, I don't have much other history to go off of. Having them use the Sword of Kas sounds like a good idea, but this opens up the problem of what is to be done with the sword, you know? It should be hard to destroy an artifact, very hard. I was actually thinking that, in order to destroy the artifact, one of the PCs would actually have to give up their life in order to ensure the Hand is in fact destroyed. For instance, say when the One Ring fell into the heart of Mount Doom. Let's, for a moment, say it was powerful enough to manufacture a way out of the fire before it was completely destroyed. My line of thinking is having, say, Frodo jump into the fire whilst clutching the Ring in order to make sure it stays in the destructive lava. Also, this not only provides a great role-playing moment (who will find the courage to rid Faerun of this dispicable artifact), but it forces the group to, as you said in your previous post, decide whether the life of a comrade is so readily given up if it could just be "locked away forever."
Lukkychukky 05-09-07, 02:46 PM	I just figured it out... I'm not very up to speed on environmental encounters, but with the help of Sandstorm, I think this following idea would be feasible... A PC has to carry the Hand across the desert (maybe some long stretch of the Anauroch) for what seems like an unending distance. Just when it seems the end draws no closer, the PC finds himself at a ruined temple. Upon close inspection , the PC discovers the temple as a long abandoned church of (insert god who opposes Vecna here). In the courtyard lies a well, dried out except for about 4 inches of water on the bottom. Also, the body of a long dead preist lies in the water, causing whatever meager amount of water is in the well to be turned into holy water. Throwing the Hand into the water is what destroys the artifact. The resulting explosion deals no actual damage, but does suppress any magic within one mile for the period of a week. This again creates the challenge of not only getting to the temple alive with the aid of magic, but returning home without it.