Dragon orbs?

Post/Author/DateTimePost
#1

zombiegleemax

Sep 30, 2003 16:07:57
Just wondering if all five orbs are accounted for. I can only think of three from the novels- the one that Tas broke at the Whitestone Council, the one that was broken in the High Clerists Tower, and Raistlin's orb. Any mention of what happened to the other two? And if they are still around, could they have any effect on the Overlords?
#2

shugi

Sep 30, 2003 16:15:56
It's strongly implied that each dragon orb works on a specific type of dragon, as represented by the type of "mist" within the orb itself. Raistlin/Lorac's orb had a green mist and called Cyan, the "Whitestone orb" had a white mist, and the High Clerist orb had a blue mist and took out blue dragons (and almost took out Skie). This would leave the red and black dragonorbs.

I don't remember any mention of the last two in current continuity, but Sable could be in trouble. Can anyone confirm if the dragon orb featured in the Anvil of Time adventure had a red or black mist within?
#3

frojas

Sep 30, 2003 16:22:41
It's strongly implied that each dragon orb works on a specific type of dragon, as represented by the type of "mist" within the orb itself.

The orbs as described in DL Classics Volume 3 affect any evil dragons within range regardless of color.
#4

shugi

Sep 30, 2003 16:23:58
Ok, I guess the words "...in Chronicles..." needed to be added.
#5

frojas

Sep 30, 2003 16:27:00
Just wondering if all five orbs are accounted for. I can only think of three from the novels- the one that Tas broke at the Whitestone Council, the one that was broken in the High Clerists Tower, and Raistlin's orb. Any mention of what happened to the other two? And if they are still around, could they have any effect on the Overlords?

Here is the accounting as I figure it:

1) The Orb Tass Broke
2) The Orb that was destroyed at the High Clerist's Tower
3) Raistlin's Orb. This one was cracked when Raistlin used it to communicate with Dalamar through time. Later on he hurled the Orb towards the portal in anger and the orb shattered.
4) According to DL Classics # 3 and the DL Atlas there is an orb in the ruins of Istar. The companions missed it entirely so it might still be there.
5) According to the Anvil of Time and adventure by Tracy Hickman that was published in Dungeon and republished in the Best of Tales II there is an Orb in the Anvil of Time. The Anvil of Time is a time traveling doohicky or somesuch. I haven't read through all the adventure so that's as much as I know.
#6

frojas

Sep 30, 2003 16:29:25
Ok, I guess the words "...in Chronicles..." needed to be added.

I would still say that Orbs affect any evil dragons. Though we have never seen an orb affect dragons of multiple colors at the same time we have never been told that it can't.
#7

zombiegleemax

Sep 30, 2003 16:36:25
I was pretty sure that Lorac's orb was the one from Istar, as he says that it spoke to him while he was taking his test in the tower there and asked him to rescue it from some impending disaster...? Anyone else remember that?
#8

shugi

Sep 30, 2003 16:39:47
My thought is this: if one orb can control all evil dragons, why did they make 5 of them? Was there a Hit Dice limit or something? I guess I just disagree on principle.

As a slight change in topic, I think the orbs of dragonkind are close enough to DL's dragonorbs that they can be used until the War of the Lance sourcebook comes out.

Muttifoot, you're right. Lorac's orb was taken from the Tower of Istar.
#9

daedavias_dup

Sep 30, 2003 16:48:00
I'm not entirely sure on why there were five, but the Istarian Orb is indeed Lorac's orb, like Muttifoot said.

Unless, of course, there were two located in Istar at one point.
#10

brimstone

Sep 30, 2003 17:08:20
Originally posted by Muttifoot
I was pretty sure that Lorac's orb was the one from Istar, as he says that it spoke to him while he was taking his test in the tower there and asked him to rescue it from some impending disaster...? Anyone else remember that?

Let me clarify for him:

The Orb that Raistlin took from Lorac is indeed the Orb from the Istarian Tower.

However, there is currently a Dragonorb in Istar now...in the possesions of Zebulah (or Zebedia or whatever his name is). Where the new orb came from is anyone's guess. Perhaps the Tower of Losarcum?
#11

frojas

Sep 30, 2003 17:37:39
if one orb can control all evil dragons, why did they make 5 of them? Was there a Hit Dice limit or something? I guess I just disagree on principle.

I always though that the number was 5 because there are 5 towers of high sorcery and each tower originally got one. The Palanthas orb was later moved to the high clerist tower.
#12

zombiegleemax

Sep 30, 2003 18:23:38
Five dragon orbs were made because there were five Towers of High Sorcery to defend. Each dragon orb worked on all kinds of evil dragons and each was taken to different towers.

The one from the Palanthas tower was taken to the High Clerist Tower and was later destroyed.

The one from the Istar tower was taken by Lorac and was later destroyed.

One was taken to Icewall castle (the books never said which tower this orb came from or how it got there) and it was destroyed.

This leaves two orbs "in circulation." According to the records that the orders have they were destroyed when the two Towers of High Sorcery were destroyed. So when they blew up, the dragon orbs blew up with them (which, I guess, means the dragon orb in Icewall HAD to be the Wayreth orb but why it was moved [maybe stolen] is anyones guess).

So, according to the books, all five orbs have been destroyed. The only other mention of them is in The Anvil of Time. But you have to remember that this is a time adventure. So this orb could have (and was for sure...) been ANY one of the five. But all of them have since been destroyed. Now, one could probably survive if a player went into the anvil of time and took it back with him. But time does all it can to heal itself so the orb would be destoryed in some other way (or just vanish if the player tried to remove it). Anyway, that accounts for all five of them unless I have missed something.
#13

frojas

Sep 30, 2003 19:04:14
Anyway, that accounts for all five of them unless I have missed something.

According to DragonLance Classics Vol 3 pg 51 there is a Dragon Orb in Zebulah's Laboratory, which is located underneath the blood sea. Which tower it belonged to is never stated.

FR
#14

Matthew_L._Martin

Sep 30, 2003 20:01:31
It's been a long time since I read _Chronicles_, but the idea that two orbs were lost during the Lost Battles/Seige on Sorcery, IIRC, hinges on Raistlin's assumption that those orbs were in the Towers of Daltigoth and Loscarum/the Ruins when those Towers fell. However, of the three orbs that we know to have survived to the War of the Lance, only one was housed in a Tower of High Sorcery in the late Third Age. Two of them had been left in strongholds of the last Dragon War--the Tower of the High Clerist, and Icewall Castle. It's not impossible that the other two were kept in similar places.

Matthew L. Martin
#15

zombiegleemax

Sep 30, 2003 21:33:02
I don't recall from DoWN that the high clerist tower orb was destroyed. I don't remember that being in there, and i have always assumed that it is was left guarded in the tower. I guess it had to have been destroyed, since you all seem so sure, so I ask in what book or source materiel did it say the orb was destroyed?
#16

frojas

Sep 30, 2003 21:49:32
so I ask in what book or source materiel did it say the orb was destroyed?

A couple of sources imply this. First of all during Kitiara's attack on the Tower one of the gates malfunctioned allowing one of the blues to breathe his lighting into the center of the tower. This caused the inside of the tower to collapse. The assumption we make is that this destroyed the orb.

Here is the passage from DoWN. This is page 700 in the collector's edition:

"Lighting flashed, and Tas turned and fled, hearing the room behind him explode into flame. Rock and stone filled the chamber. The white light of the dragon orb was buried in the debris as the Tower of the High Clerist collapsed on top of it."

FR
#17

zombiegleemax

Sep 30, 2003 21:52:10
Ah, I follow now. Its been a couple of years since I read it, so thank you.
#18

frojas

Sep 30, 2003 21:54:51
Ah, I follow now. Its been a couple of years since I read it, so thank you.

Not a problem. My wife is reading Chronicles for the first time so it's a bit fresher in my mind.

FR
#19

brimstone

Oct 01, 2003 8:22:51
Originally posted by vader42xx
This leaves two orbs "in circulation." According to the records that the orders have they were destroyed when the two Towers of High Sorcery were destroyed.

I highly doubt the orbs were in the Towers when they were destroyed. As speculated before, and the presedence set in, Devine Hammer, the wizards were removing as many of the most powerful artifacts from the Towers as they could before they destroyed them. I'm sure the Dragonorbs were first on the list of things to go.

And we know where they are: One's in Zebulah's sanctuary in the bottom of the Blood Sea, and the other in the Anvil of Time...and while the one in the Anvil could technically be any of the orbs...personally, I'm betting Tracy meant for this to be the fifth and final orb...although I've never seen this explicitly stated by Tracy.
#20

cam_banks

Oct 01, 2003 8:55:56
I actually like the notion that each dragon orb had an affinity with one of the five evil dragon clans. I wouldn't rule out their effect on other dragons, but I'd have each orb contain the essence of a captive dragon, with the accordant personality and nature of that dragon, and that this enhances the orb's influence over that dragon clan. This also explains the dragon orb of Istar's sneaky, underhanded and sadistic nature, which resonated with Cyan's and was one of the obstacles Raistlin had to overcome in order to master it.

The two remaining dragon orbs would then be the black and the red, which I would agree should be located in sunken Istar (at least up until the War of the Lance - who knows what Zebulon did with it) and in the Anvil of Time (and that could by the very nature of the place show up anywhere else). That black dragon orb would be quite a useful weapon against Onysablet or Mohrlex...

Cheers,
Cam
#21

zombiegleemax

Oct 01, 2003 9:23:18
btw, what exactly is the anvil of time? i've read chronicles 1-4 and war of the souls 1-3, and like the intro to the first legends book.
#22

zombiegleemax

Oct 01, 2003 9:36:47
"The Anvil of Time" was an adventure written by Tracy Hickman and published in Dungeon magazine. The adventure begins in the Fourth Age, but uses the rules from 3E.

What the Anvil is as far as Krynn is concerned, is a hidden machine in some sort of demiplane. The Anvil allows time travel to those who can use the machine, and it is supposed to be the place where Tas' "Device of Time Journeying" was originally constructed.

Oh, so Im not off-topic.......Dragonorbs!!
#23

brimstone

Oct 01, 2003 9:39:09
The Anvil of Time is a stand alone D&D adventure written by Tracy Hickman. It appeared in Dungeon magazine over a year ago...and it was re-printed in the Best of Tales II.

As for the actual Anvil of Time itself, it's a dungeon that essentially lives outside the "space/time continueum" of Krynn. Within the dungeon is an anvil which shares the same name...and upon which it is speculated the Device of Time Journeying was forged. As it stands now...it's a...well...it's really hard to explain without the pictures. LOL!

Anyway, from the room with the anvil (if I remember correctly) to can go to any Age of Krynn...basically it's a time machine/room.

EDIT: Oops, he beat me too it. heh heh
#24

zombiegleemax

Oct 01, 2003 13:05:30
I actually seem to recall from chronicles that the orbs were described as each being all colors, but with one dominant color, although I could be mistaken about that. Even if I'm not, it could have not meant anything about which dragons it controlled better.