I don't have the verdant passage. Does it say what happened to Kalak's body after the fight in the ziggurat? If so, please let me know. I do have city-state of tyr and freedom. But it doesn't say, or I seem to be unable to located said information.
Thanks for any and all replies!
Old Halfling recipe - he was chopped in to fine pieces, cooked into a wonderful stew and fed to the huddled masses...
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Kidding, honestly I think he may have been left in the ziggurat where he was killed. But your lack of finding information may be because it was never stated in the book.
During one session, my players found themselves in tunnels beneath Tyr's Ziggurat and stumbled across a group of hooded humanoids chanting around what appeared to be a throned, and also hooded, Kalak. The PCs quickly beat feeted out of there before anything came of it though.
As for homebrew, My old DM had tithian responsible for kalak's body disappearing. We (the players) never learned what happened to the body, but we did discover something very cool. (IMO) After liberating tyr, tithian took over as king. What shocked everyone who would know (our VA member) was that tyr's templar never seemed to lose their spellcasting ability and tithian seemed to have become incredibly powerful over a short period of time.
At the climax of the adventure, we discovered tithian was using Kalak's heart todraw upon elemental magic. The heart was located in a secret chamber in the ziggurat, which was completely sealed by magic and publicly declared, cursed. We destroyed kalak's heart before storming the golden tower.
The adventure ended with the death of tithian's chief templar, talimar and the escape of tithian, who we later killed in alturak in a different adventure.
While I really like the old DMs idea, I don't think I'm going to steal it. I'd like to do my own thing instead. Still, the idea that Kalak might not be dead, or at least, not let death stop him, is appealing.
I think it opens up a lot of fun possibilities in "Free Tyr" if Kalak is behind one of the factions that is trying to gain control. But, because his ritual failed to make him a dragon, he lost levels and power and has to rebuild himself before he is willing to show himself.
turlough
If he is as powerful as he has been statted out, I see no reason for a clone or a contingency not to go off. My assumption is he is waiting for a good opportunity for the reveal. Perhaps something is preventing his clone or other plans from working.
That's one possible explanation. Pre-4e, Kalak relocated to heal up and come back for revenge, but he discovered something and has been studying it for the past X years. He learned through the grape vine of the death of borys and the other SKs and is now waiting for the day when the remaining Sks are removed. Then he can come back and rule the tablelands as the absolute power. Maybe he found one of rajaat's old laboratories, or upside-downface pyramids. Or, maybe he located another part of the world where he could rule unmolested.
Or maybe he's just dead and those damn floating heads had something to do with the body vanishing, or another SK had something to do with it.
Stealing his body might have been in prepapration for an attempt at revival, which failed (Bloodsand Arena describes a secret cabal that wants Kalak back and to strike against those they perceive caused his downfall), or might have been to execute a ritual over the remains so as to aquire some of the powers Kalak possessed. Someone out there might be walking with a lot more power than should.
If one goes with the novels, we know Kalak was not ressurected or turned undead since the protagonists encounter his undissolved spirit upon entering the Gray, IIRC months or years after his death.
I'm just throwing out a random thought stream here but..
Maybe because Kalak was so close to deaths door part of his essence/soul was shed into the Gray and he is now some weird Gray/necromatic wizardly being.
Maybe he survived the assassination, bided his time for a short while, killed Tithian and took his form as his new facade. A free Tyr is a shining light of freedom that many people will flock to. Since the ziggaraut is already built it should be a simple thing to fuel another transformative spell with the life force of a swelling population. This time at night, while they sleep........
Maybe Dote Mal Payne stole the carcass and is experimenting with it even now!
Maybe Sacha and Wyan ate the corpse and it imparted to them new and wondrous powers.
IDK
But then, that's no fun.
Perhaps his zigurat, as well as being a means to transform into a dragon, also serves as a sort of phylactery, thanks to the unusual time of his death. Perhaps one of his servants discovers this property of the zigurat, and only needs to perform the proper ritual to return Kalak from the dead.
Kalak pulled a Yoda... wait... what?
Maybe he survived the assassination, bided his time for a short while, killed Tithian and took his form as his new facade. A free Tyr is a shining light of freedom that many people will flock to. Since the ziggaraut is already built it should be a simple thing to fuel another transformative spell with the life force of a swelling population. This time at night, while they sleep........
This was similar to my line of thought. What if Kalak used Psychic Surgery (2nd edition power, perhaps Psionic Power will have something similar) to modify the brain of Tithian to house his consciousness when he physical form died? Tithian/Kalak then had the body hidden for later when all the excitement calmed down so he could fix up the place and move back 'home'.
Foolish mortals! He knew about the betrayers all along! It is merely part of his plan to ferret out the unworthy ones before his...apotheosis...muhaha!!
DEATH IS BUT A DOORWAY...TO A GOD!!
;)
But his body could be preserved in some way altought its soul is now destroyed in the gray. Witch could be a empty shell (body) to receive the soul of a powerfull wizard/psionisist (body transfer)
Not sure it can be done game mecanic speaking but anyway.. something like that.
jihun
edit: That said, i'm not sure if the vortex was linked to his soul or the body itself; i would say the soul.
Well sorry but the SK's have no control on their vertex wich permits their templar to cast spells so I say that Kalak is realy dead because he cannot willingly stop it's templar from casting.
Sorcercer-kings can refuse to grant templar's their power in 2e.
Well sorry but the SK's have no control on their vertex wich permits their templar to cast spells so I say that Kalak is realy dead because he cannot willingly stop it's templar from casting.
Sorcercer-kings can refuse to grant templar's their power in 2e.
I stand corrected.
My mistake. Never mind with all I said then
Jihun
Well sorry but the SK's have no control on their vertex wich permits their templar to cast spells so I say that Kalak is realy dead because he cannot willingly stop it's templar from casting.
Sorcercer-kings can refuse to grant templar's their power in 2e.
I stand corrected.
My mistake. Never mind with all I said then
Jihun
You'd be correct in regards to 4e. Once you gain power, you can do whatever you want with it. Instead of an SK refusing to grant you power (which they probably don't beyond pacts) they would send agents to punish you, or simply cast powerful spells or use psionics on you. No need to rob a player of its abilities when you can just place a disease/curse on the character that's just as/ if not more punishing. Plus it doesn't bore the hell out of a player with nothing but a basic attack.
Not Kalak himself, he is gone into the Gray, just an Zombie or Skeleton looking like an 5th+ stage Dragon :D.
It would be a nice Heroic Tier adventure with an reasonable "weak" Solo Zombie Dragon at the end.