Legends of Partholon: Rune-swords

There is a legend that tells of a time long ago, when humanity was still young. The elder race of Agha-yin had long fallen to decadence, worshiping obscenities and things from Outside. The sorcerer-kings of Arkhemea embraced wilder and darker magicks in their endless struggle for primacy. These litanies and incantations echoed across the chasms beyond space and time, and terrible things turned their attention to this small realm of light and life. 

Out of the north came a sage cloaked in grey, and with him he brought three great secrets. The first was the secret lore of wizardry, a more constructive magic that attuned its user to the harmonies of the cosmos. The second was the secret artifice of the rune-swords, that would give any stalwart soul the means to battle the spawn of chaos. The third secret has been lost to time. 

There are other legends, of course. There are texts that were written in scripts more ancient than any human tongue, and fragments still survive, copied and annotated in tomes of forbidden lore. Among those scholars and sorcerers who have read these passages, there are those who have claimed that rune-swords were known to these pre-humans, and that even the princes of Agha-yin had rune-swords of their own.  

Legends of Partholon: The Grey Sage, Zagyg

A statue of the Grey Sage

Names & titles: Zagyg, the Grey Sage, the Mad Mage, the Labyrinth Lord, the Catacomb Keeper

Prestige: Demigod or legendary hero

Veneration: He is a patron of magic, moreso of temperance in spellcraft, and wizards claim him as the founder of their tradition. He is commonly invoked for protection from malign spells, and sorcerers call upon him to keep their incantations from drawing otherworldly attention.

He is widely regarded as a champion of the gods of Law, and credited with sealing of the Underworld's many entrances with sprawling labyrinths, filled with tricks and traps to keep the spawn of Chaos locked in their dark world, and to deter those who might be tempted to ally with them.

Perhaps as an extension of this aspect, Zagyg is also deemed a protector of tombs and crypts. Paradoxically, treasure-hunters and tomb-robbers often sacrifice in his name, in hopes of currying guidance and luck, or at least mercy.

However, Zagyg is also called by some "the Mad Mage," and credited with 

Legend: Perhaps because he is such a minor figure, no single, unified version of his legend has yet risen to prominence. The accounts that do exist are so varied as to be contradictory. Some tell that he is the son of, or even the earthly incarnation of, the grey god Grivenar. Others claim that he was an Arkhemean sorcerer-king who repented and abandoned the perpetual struggle for power to pursue a higher calling: crusading against the creatures of Chaos and the Underworld. One version says simply that he came out of the north bearing spells and artifacts to raise a crusade against the vile decadence of Agha-yin and the sorcery of Arkhemea.

Artifacts:  Any rune-sword might be considered an artifact of Zagyg, but he, like any magic-user, was unable to wield them himself. When confronted with physical force, Zagyg often relied on his Serpent Staff.  He would hurl the staff at his foes, or simply throw it down at his own feet, and it would become a great serpent, crushing his enemies in its coils or even devouring them whole. When none still dared oppose him, the serpent would return to his hand and resume its former shape.

The Alicorn Spear - the Artifact

The Alicorn Spear is an artifact weapon best used in the hands of a cleric, but of some use to a magic-user of the order of Wizardry.

The spear has a +1 bonus to attack and damage rolls. This bonus improves to +2 against the undead. Like any spear, it can be used to fight from the second rank. However, the spear's greatest quality is as an implement of healing.

A cleric or wizard holding the spear can heal wounds with a touch, as the cure spell. Any individual can benefit from this power only once per day, and the power is limited. The healing touch can be used only thirty times before it is exhausted. Fortunately, a cleric or wizard can restore this power via sacred rites, but this requires six days and 3,000 silver worth of ritual components.

The spear's aura interferes with sorcery and most other forms of magic, but wizards and clerics have no difficulty with their spellcraft. However, a wizard's arcane aura will interfere with the spear's attack and damage bonus.

The Alicorn Spear - Crafting

 The delving party found an alicorn, a unicorn horn, amongst the junk and refuse of a goblin storage room. Bill's player is interested in making a magic item out of it. 

After some consideration, I believe Bill may be capable of creating the Alicorn Spear but it is an expensive, involving, and uncertain project. Bill would need to spend 6,000 silver on equipment and rare materials for the rituals and construction, and would have a 45% chance of success. He can improve the odds by acquiring rarer and better quality components: 12,000 silver would give a 70% chance, or 18,000 silver for an 85% chance.

It will also require time. Bill can go into seclusion for about a month and a half, doing nothing else, and spend all the costs at once. Or, he could work on this project in his spare time, paying the costs gradually as funds become available. However, this start-and-stop procedure is much less efficient, requiring about 60 days total devoted to the work.

Additionally, since the horn was in the possession of goblins, there's a good chance it had been taken by force, and may have been tainted by a unicorn's murder, or corrupted by its time in the underworld. Bill would be well advised to seek out a unicorn to purify the horn. If he relies on his own rituals to purify it, there is a small chance (call it 15%) that the result could be a cursed artifact, warped by the powers of chaos.

Backstory

The campaign is set in the borderlands of Partholon - to the west is the Imperial Territory, to the east lie the Small Kingdoms. On the northern edge of the Shimrod Forest is the tiny village of Sham - a peaceful hamlet of woodcutters and fishermen, only occasionally bothered by savage Kruthar barbarians raiding from the northern hills.

It is the year 295 AC - that is, the 295th year After the Crowning of the first Emperor in Tyrhennea. Early in the spring, villagers began disappearing, and rumors circulated of goblyns being sighted in the woods. Search parties found mysterious ruins and numerous tracks in and out of a doorway, beyond which lay a stairway winding deep below the ground...

Ash Slayum is a veteran warrior, dungeon-delver, and treasure-hunter. His martial prowess is exceptional, his survival instincts are keen, and his word is his bond (which may be why he rarely gives it). He speaks little of himself or his past, but his men-at-arms have occasionally hinted at a tragic love with a woman of the Faer Folk.

Svaarden is a wandering holter and hunter, an expert archer and master of woodcraft. He is, however, very short on people-skills, but rarely lets that stop him from putting his foot into his mouth. He's also untrustworthy and unpredictable, but he's never turned against the party, technically.

Ash and Svaarden met in the dungeon when their respective search parties were wiped out by the underworld's denizens. They have delved successfully together for many months, and eventually incorporated the party into an official treasure-hunting company, endorsed by Baron Blackhart. The rest of the party looks to them as unofficial leaders, a fact complicated by their conflicting ethical perspectives.

The rest of the party includes:

Clementine, a cleric of the Sacred Order of St Alcidine. She is a holy warrior dedicated to battling the restless dead and all the eldritch horrors of the underworld. Capturing the treasures of the spawn of Chaos is a victory for her order and for the gods of Law.

Billium Dedpulius, or "Bill" to his friends, is a magic-user of the secret fraternity of Wizards. His order devotes itself to constructive spellcraft and forbids the destructive and world-warping magicks of sorcery. His mentor, Incanus, attempts to provide the guiding light of wisdom, but Bill's obsession with vanquishing the creatures of darkness has led him to be tempted by the forbidden lore of sorcery.

Nylian is a native of Sham, the daughter of Weyland the Smith, and has always been restless in the quiet village. Even as a child she was a rough-and-tumble tomboy, constantly getting into fights with boys twice her size - and often winning. Her father tried to teach her the Hammercraft to channel her energies toward productivity, but where he embraced the constructive aspects of the Thunder Lord Tanaris, Nylian was drawn to his warlike aspect. She joined the militia before even completing her apprenticeship at the smithy, and Kruthar savages have learned a wary respect for "the hammer girl." When the delving party began returning to town with great treasure and harrowing tales, she informed them in no uncertain terms that she was now joining them.

Gottfried also grew up in Sham, and like Nylian he longed for more excitement than the little village could provide. He was raised on stories of his piratical uncle, Magnus the Raver, and joined the militia with hopes of learning the skill to fight at his uncle's side. When called upon to defend Sham against Kruthar raids, Gottfried displayed a berserker's spirit, heedless of danger, knowing only the drive to slay his foes. When Magnus  came to visit his sister and nephew, he and Gottfried joined Ash & Svaarden's party in hunting monstrous adders in the woods. Magnus was calcified by an adder's toxic blood, and Gottfried swore to find and destroy the monsters' nest. With the party's help, he succeeded, and earned his place among the delvers.

The Stars are Right

After almost a year (really?) without updating, I'm finally taking the time to use this blog for its intended purpose again. Madness!

The campaign has been awesome. The players, despite coming mainly from 3.5 backgrounds, have responded enthusiastically to the old-school vibe - the most enjoyable and most intense game sessions are not the ones where they fight a huge monster, but the ones where they have to figure out a trap or a puzzle. Still, some of the guys prefer their options to be spelled out more plainly. Between that desire from certain players and my own desire to work out a few of the kinks that still bug me in the whitebox rules, I've been working out a lot of house rules that I'd like to organize and present plainly for easy reference.

not dead but dreaming

Anyone who has been bothering to follow this blog will notice it's been sitting quiet for a while now. It's kind of a two-fold matter here: for a while I was occupying myself sufficiently with running my campaign that I haven't felt compelled to share any thoughts here. More recently, a handful of 'real life' matters have been getting in the way of playing the game, and have also gotten in the way of writing anything worth posting.

The good news is that all of these issues are getting addressed over the next month or so; and when the game is running, it's running pretty smoothly. The players are enthusiastic and, while I am feeling a bit of DM-fatigue, I don't foresee another campaign hiatus. I think I just need to plan around my fatigue - maybe plan on one session out of the month being devoted to board or card games of a more casual quality, just to give myself a break. We'll see how that goes.