Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Uratoh 11-09-06, 01:17 AM	A major plot arc of an eberron game I run, was around finding the six pieces to a staff used back during the Daeklyr/Gateekeeper war to seal one of the Daelkyr and establish one oif the 'seals' on Xoriat itself. The idea is, the seal has been slowly eroding over the millenia, in a few decades the Daelkyr may even be able to escape, and It's going to become nessecary to reinforce the seal with a binding ritual using the same staff. The PCs, by happenstance, find a piece even as servants of the sealed daelkyr worked to find the same piece...hoping to assemble the staff to shatter his prison and free him. They go around, stuff happens, they end up with three pieces, two of which assemble into a mace (it's a mace for now). They while traveling, notice a 'resonance' from the pieces with some nearby ruins, and go to explore. The ruins in question are Yarkuun Draal, in southern Breland. The location of the Daelkyr's prison. The idea was, they'd explore, find the seal, and begin to realize the signifigance of their quest, which theyd previously been simply collecting them because. So they fight through mutated plant beasts and reach the center, where a massive obelisk of solid byshek marks the Daelkyr's prison. They look around, note it's defonately what resonates with the pieces... When the party cleric takes the mace, and smashes it into the side of the obelisk. Being 1/3 of the entire staff...it sends a massive crack up the side of the obelisk and does massive damage to the seal...shortening the 'break free' time from decades to months at best. I'd never expected this to happen... One of the PCs decided to use a Ring of Wish (found with one gem left) to wish the obelisk was back to how it was before the cleric hit it...but he announces his intentions, and the party rogue grabs the ring, slips it on, and.. "I wish that the obelisk were fully and permanantly repaired and its seal restored to full strength!" (Obviously, a 1st Ed wisher.) If he'd only gone with the first PC's wish, it would have reset things to the way they were, via 'Undo Misfortune' effects...But with that wording, a single Wish spell CANNOT do it, it was an epic ritual using an artifact as a focus...the Wish did the most it could, fully repairing the obelisk and restoring the seal, for a moment. the crack immidiately began to reform, buying at most a day or so. So barring a miracle, a Daelkyr will once again walk the earth... Mainly, what would a Daelkyr DO once being sprung from their eternal prison?
rampant 11-09-06, 01:24 AM	Anything it wants. Likely eliminate the party, hide/destroy/hang onto the pieces they have so far in order to keep the seals from being redone. Then find his followers, secure their pieces, then begin either building its empire or working to release its bretheren.
Phantomcrossing 11-09-06, 03:22 AM	Take stock of how things changed in the world, begin working to gather the children of Xoriat's madness already on the surface to come towards his will, get himself a nice little stronghold or just start new aberrant experimentation, possibly ignoring the PCs who might not be equipped enough to even harm him in the slightest, possibly perceive them as no initial threat and go about his intended business which may involve eradicating every patch of flowers in his path or making birds into monstrosities. Just ideas. Which of the Daelkyre is it, one of the flavor texted ones, (Lord of Eyes [likes making beholders] or the one with the giant underground crawling castle fortress)
Uratoh 11-09-06, 03:27 AM	It's not one of the detailed ones, I'm making one themed slightly after Shub Niggurath, basically a plant freak. He/She was the creator of the fungal demon queen, Zuggtmoy, though the latter has actually grown near her creator's level of power in the millenia since the sealing.
Bluebrush 11-09-06, 03:27 AM	Hmm. Rise from the depths, kill those who oppose it, most likely try and find some way to release the other Daelkyr. Expect it to try and recruit local cultists to follow it. If it has time, maybe it could try to twist the modern races into a horrible mockery of thier former races. Aside from that, depends how subtle you want to play it. Being super-smart outsiders, one could probably slip into hiding for a few centuries, quietly working on it's schemes, but if that doesn't appeal to you, maybe have it stomp across the countryside, slaughtering people as it goes. Though if that happens, there should be interferance from the Gatekeepers, Church of the Silver Flame, The Citadel and basically anyone with any power who'd prefer Breland not to be destroyed.
goblin_pride 11-09-06, 08:53 AM	Aside from that, depends how subtle you want to play it. Being super-smart outsiders, one could probably slip into hiding for a few centuries, quietly working on it's schemes, but if that doesn't appeal to you, maybe have it stomp across the countryside, slaughtering people as it goes. Though if that happens, there should be interferance from the Gatekeepers, Church of the Silver Flame, The Citadel and basically anyone with any power who'd prefer Breland not to be destroyed. Even if it didn't go on a mad rampage, how often do the gatekeepers check on that particular seal? Part of the tasks gatekeepers perform is maintaining the seals that hold the Daelkyr at bay, I would imagine that one should be along shortly to take a peek and make sure that everything is as it should be. If your PCs are dumb enough to hang around after freeing the genie from the bottle things could go badly as the Gatekeeper demands they help undo what they've done. And if they've run as fast as they can, the rangers traveling with the gatekeeper shouldn't have much trouble tracking them to where they've gone to ground and then convince them that they need to make things right so the rest of the world doesn't suffer from their foolishly tampering with powers they didn't understand.
yossarius 11-09-06, 10:53 AM	It's not one of the detailed ones, I'm making one themed slightly after Shub Niggurath, basically a plant freak. He/She was the creator of the fungal demon queen, Zuggtmoy, though the latter has actually grown near her creator's level of power in the millenia since the sealing. In this case, try to conceive what a plant mentality might be, then project that onto the Daelkyr. He seeks an open air lair that gets lots of sun, and hatches a plot to turn all the animal life in the world into plants. He starts making plant-like dolgrims and dolgaunts, attempts to assassinate the awakened oak tree druid (i forget his name, and don't have my books readily available, but you know what I mean). It would really be awesome if he kidnapped one of the PCs and turned him into the Swamp Thing (he was AWESOME). Go nuts. After all, this is their fault (the PCs I mean). The I-Don't-Know-What-To-Do-With-This-So-I-Guess-I'll-Break-It mentality has little place in a world that also has Eldrich Machines, Creation Patterns, Psionic matrices, etc. Make 'em pay. Maybe that will teach them to go pay a sage for some information next time.
Bluebrush 11-09-06, 12:34 PM	Even if it didn't go on a mad rampage, how often do the gatekeepers check on that particular seal?The Gatekeepers are short-staffed, so probably not as often as they like. Simplest answer is: As the plot dictates. Oh, and don't forget the Gith races as opponents of the Daelkyr. Any living on Eberron are likely to wig out at the very suggestion one is free.
Pallin Rahl 11-09-06, 12:42 PM	...attempts to assassinate the awakened oak tree druid ...or better yet, corrupt/twist him in interesting yet evil ways. ;) --- I don't know if the Daelkyr would want to slaughter the party, as some have suggested... As he's likely far more powerful than what the party is ready to deal with at the moment, you could always really mess with them and have the Daelkyr show up and simply thank them for freeing him. Adventurers are used to hearing "Now you will die for thwarting my plans!" ...you'd be suprised how much it urks them to instead hear "Thank you all for delivering me from my prison..." from a (world-conquering-level) foe that they are currently generally powerless to drop. :devil: Of course, after thanking them he might want to perform grotesque experiments on them... but that's neither here nor there. :P Furthermore, you gotta dig Swamp Thing (from Alan Moore forward... once he was established as a plant elemental that was basically the representitive of all plantlife on the planet, etc). Instead of turning one of the PCs into a Swamp Thing-like creature... you could always just have Swamp Thing show up :) ...requesting the PCs assistance in stopping this vile plant demon that threatens to corrupt all plant life on the planet. This could even lead directly to a quest/adventure for whatever "plot device thing to save the world" you wish to impliment. :D ...of course, you need not actually call him "Swamp Thing", but you should see where I'm going with this... :P
DarkWarriorKarg 11-09-06, 02:39 PM	The "Swamp Thing" could actually be an Aspect of Zuggymoyt (under a dirrefrent than normal appearance) who does NOT want "her" former master wandering around unsupervised. There's a half-plant template or two floating about that you can use for minions :-) half-farspawn treants flesh treants (disgusting...) Shambling flesh mounds.... An insane plant-god-like creature might seem a boon to the ashbound... until they realize what it is... as it seeks to convert all creatures to plants... For added horror it could "polymorph any object" on an important NPC that the PCs cares about (like an apple) and eat it...
Uratoh 11-09-06, 04:42 PM	My general thoughts on Zuggtmoy vs Daelkyr is that when the Daelkyr was sealed, she was no more powerful than what you might consider an Aspect of her today. Millenia later, she's done EXACTLY what she was designed to, grow in power and strength...to the point that she herself rivals her creator. Now, the PCs have clashed with an Aspect of hers before, and said aspect is now busy turning one of the PCs' hometowns into a fungal paradise... But there's no love lost between Zuggy and the Daelkyr, nope.