Kalak: I had him getting stuck in some contingency spells-gone-bad. When he was "killed" a spell kicked in that should have saved him. Instead he got trapped in the Gray (where Tithian ran into him). At this point my ideas diverged, between him getting his body back and returning to Tyr to regain power, him escaping the Gray to another prime world where he would finish his transformatin before returning (back in 2E cosmology), or him possessing Tithian's body and returning to tyr as "Tithian" and snookering the populace.
Tectuktitlay: Never really liked him and thoght Atzetuk had more potential anyway.
Abalache-Re: Succeeded in "Forest Maker," becoming one of the stronger DKs. And insane and dangerous. Besides, there was no Sadira to kill her (not that she could anyway at this point) because . . .
Kalid-Ma: Returned through the orbs in Sadira's body, as one of the strongest DKs (27th lvl dragon imune to the rage) an dproceeded to rebuild her city.
Borys: Contingency spell kicked in at his death, but went awry. In essence, Borys came back to life, or one of his clones did, but it had none of his power. Hamanu found it and raised/trained it as a pupil of his to lead in his armies. So he returned, but not as a Dragon.
Andropinis: Not quite return, but I was gonna have him set up a sort of shadow god cult, where he essentially acted like a god, granting spells to his worshippers from the black, until he found a way to return.
Ultimately in the tweaked direction my campaign would head, the surviving DKs would be around when Rajaat got out. In the ensuing fight the added power of Kalid-Ma, pumped-up Abalache-Re and the addition of raving Dregoth were enough to get rid of Rajaat, and Dregoth would set up shop in Ur Draxa while everyone else ran for their lives (Dregoth's appearance being what ultimately gave them the added power they needed to take down the war-bringer, but as soon as the dust cleared everyone ran for it to escape ye olde Dregothy). From Ur Draxa he could set about transforming the dragon-worshipping populace into Dray and cleansing the non-humans before turning his eye towards Raam and the rest of the traitors. Abalache-Re's additional boost in power and insanity would be just enough deterrent to give Dregoth a little bit of pause. Then Kalak would return, and the only "safe" city-states would be Balic and to a lesser extent, Draj. At least until Andropinis returned and things went bad in Draj, at which point it would be like archetypical Dark Sun, except way more dangerous.
Now I think about sleep.
If the player want to stop the dragon, they will have to find a way to destroy him. But i dont think it will go after that like in the novel. I dont plan to make Rajaat come back and kill a lot of SK.
Borys: Contingency spell kicked in at his death, but went awry. In essence, Borys came back to life, or one of his clones did, but it had none of his power. Hamanu found it and raised/trained it as a pupil of his to lead in his armies. So he returned, but not as a Dragon.
I had actually planned something like this for my game... I never ran that campaign though.
Or something like that. I don't exactly remember what it said.
Kalak - Was killed by Rikus, Sadira, etc. His spells went into effect, but due to looters running off with a major component (a large gem) he wasn't able to reform on his own. Thus followed a long adventure where the PCs gradually figure this out, track down Dote Mal Payne, and try to stop him from resurrecting Kalak. Kalak is weakened by the process of coming back and manages to escape into the night. Now he's out there, hidden and biding his time. He's immortal, after all, and can build up his strength as he waits. He's a 24th level dragon (making him roughly 44th level under my dragon system).
Abalach-Re - Was overthrown by an upstart dragon with the help of the PCs. The PCs were unaware that he was a dragon. The dragon led a very well organized army against Abalach-re, who used human wave tactics until the army cracked, then the city was laid open. Abalach-re fled, but did not get far. It was about this time when Tithian and his merry band pushed out to Ur Draxa, so the other SKs were notably distracted. Once in power, it was kind of a love/hate relationship between the PCs and the new dragon. Haven't decided if I'm going to have Dregoth overthrow the upstart, or bypass it and go for Draj. Never was a big fan of Draj and neither were my players. Thought that maybe that would "sex things up" a bit.
Tec - Dead, but came back to possess the boy. He's weaker, but also a bit more powerful, since no one knows that Azzi is actually Tec.
Androponis - One of my favorite SKs, Andy found his way out of the black and came back as a psuedo shadow-dragon. He was not a happy camper.
Kalid-ma - Never focussed on this one. Whatever happened to him, he's still gone.
Think that's all of them.
Sacha and Wyan also are making a comeback (good thing my players don't read this board). One reason they were not killed was because they must have contingency plans of their own. When both were "killed" those spells went into effect. Wyan was reborn in the Deadlands, Sacha in the Silt Sea in his former city (good thing dragons don't have to breath).
Tectuktitlay: Pretty much identical to what Dawnstealer did. It's creepy, we were thiking alike in this one.
Abalach-Re: Killed by the power of Rajaat, she also had a contingency, and possessed one of her kids. It's a shame I had Dregoth then atack Raam, and kill every blood relative of Abalach-Re, including the one she possessed. Thus ended Abalach-re's existence.
Kalid-Ma: I'm loving the idea Nyt (I think it was Nyt) presented about the orbs. 3 are on Athas, 2 are in Kalidnay. If anyone could find all 5, he returns. However, nobody has yet.
Borys: "Contingency spell kicked in at his death, but went awry. In essence, Borys came back to life, or one of his clones did, but it had none of his power. Hamanu found it and raised/trained it as a pupil of his to lead in his armies. So he returned, but not as a Dragon." <-- I like this one. I might include it.
Andropinis: I've toyed with the idea that he returns. He comes back, is half-shadow, made of the stuff of the Black, has a contingent of followers from that plane, and retakes Balic in force. His new Templars all are at least Black-touched. The thing about this is - he's imprisoned, by Rajaat, for 1,000 years. I haven't figured out how to make him free himself. Or maybe he doesn't, but has figured out how to manifest a shadow-form on Athas while his body is still trapped in the Black.
Sacha & Wyan: I'm sorry, but I never liked the "talking heads", so I never considered ever bringing them back. However, they aren't Sorcerer-Kings, or even Dragons for that matter.... but would be a force to go against the Sorceer-Kings, if they had a contingency on their deaths as well.... hmm.... a pair of powerful, evil creatures championing the cause of overthrowing the Sorcerer-Kings?
Dregoth: I've usually had him quickly, and efficiently secure raam with his army of Dray, Undead and Devils. He scares the other sorcerer-Kings (however, it's his return that gets the other Sorcerer-Kings to begin looking around to see if the others also have returned). He especially despises Hamanu, who killed him and stopped him from completing his transformation, which gnaws at him constantly. Basically, I have Dregoth act as if obsessed with the completion of his metamorphosis, and that he can't complete it, it further made him mad, to the point of wanting nothing but vengeance on those who did this to him.
Irikos: I also love the idea that Irikos was a Champion, probably the "real" champion behind what Kalak is accredited for (killing the Ogres), ala what Nyt put on his site. Working from this, maybe the newly contingency-restored Sacha & Wyan, who know that Irikos was a Champion, and not Kalak (who they were imprisoned by), seek him out, and then there would be 3 Champions who begin to attack the other Sorcerer-Kings/make plans to release Rajaat... Wow... the ideas for a massive campaign are forming.
So, basically, in my game, only Tyr is missing a Sorcerer-King, if this all plays out. That gives a spark of hope to the hopeless, as there is one city that ends up truely free of the Sorcerer-Kings' tyranny (well, besides Kurn - but my players don't know that Kurn is different hehe).
Originally posted by xlorepdarkhelm
Irikos: I also love the idea that Irikos was a Champion, probably the "real" champion behind what Kalak is accredited for (killing the Ogres), ala what Nyt put on his site. Working from this, maybe the newly contingency-restored Sacha & Wyan, who know that Irikos was a Champion, and not Kalak (who they were imprisoned by), seek him out, and then there would be 3 Champions who begin to attack the other Sorcerer-Kings/make plans to release Rajaat... Wow... the ideas for a massive campaign are forming.
Was it you who came up with the story where Irikos is revived from Bodach? Because in my game that I am presently running, I (in true Deathskull fashion {a cookie to who knows what I'm talking about}) looted that idea.
Andro is stuck for 1,000 years. Period. You just don't go against a curse from Rajaat. But, he at least has a light at the end of the tunnel. After 1,000 years he is released, but Athas at this time is a water born planet devoid of all life by Rajaat. Rajaat escaped the power of the Cerulean Storm some few hundred years ealier and began the Blue Age once more, but in the end, the planet was wiped out of all living beings. When Andro arrives, Rajaat is the last and only living being on the world. Did Rajaat goof? Did he invariably destroy the world? Heck no! Its still all a part of his plan (otherwise, why would he have given a dealine for Andro's imprisonment?). Rajaat redeems the former traitor Andropoinis who then swears new fealty to Rajaat (he really doesn't have a choice either way). Rajaat empowers the Champion to be able to send back some of his essence to the past to begin to manipulate things during the Age of Heroes from the future.
Ando is limited though. He cannot fully possess anyone, but he can influence the thoughts and emotions of a good number of people. The more powerful they are, the fewer people he can manipulate, or else the less influence he has over them. Hence, he could almost dominate a single moderately potent person, or sway the general tendencies of a whole mass of commoners. He cannot be harmed, hurt, banished, etc since he does not even exist at this time. He also has the advantage of foreknowedge. He knows what the reprecusions of his every move will be and the reactions of those in the past to his actions. His goal is simply to manipulate history so that when Rajaat is freed much later down the road, the rebirth races will be wiped out and the halflings will be able to survive into the New Blue Age.
(edit) As for the rest of the SKs, some are better left dead. Not every SK needs to be returned to life and position. Abalach is one of them. Her city is just so much more fun without her ;) I liked Tec, but I like Azt without Tec much more. Kalak I'm at a toss up over. I would like to bring him back, but I don't want the cliche of him coming back to his city. Borys unfortunately was much cooler when he was just the Dragon of Tyr. As the Butcher, I say let him rot while Dergoth assumes his place in the campaign.
Borys - definitely cool. The world was sooooo much better with him in it. Remember that Borys was not in on the slaying of Dregoth, even though he didn't stop it either, so having Borys and Dregoth in the same campaign setting isn't mutually exclusive. Borys worries more about keeping Rajaat imprisoned than anything else, whereas Dregoth's focus is (purely) revenge and godhood.
Tec - never too wild about him, either, and my PCs (as I think I've stated before) never traveled to Draj, so it wasn't too important.
If we ever move forward, and the ziggurat is finished I plan the following: Kalak casts the transformation spell, and there are no heroes to stop it. But after it he vanishes. More than half of the population is dead, the templars lost spellcasting ability, and the city (with the iron mines) is essentially a free prey. House Vordon is the first to act on it, as closest to the scene, and with agreements with the nobles try to secure the city and the mines, but only marginally succeed. Every other SK is interested to get the city, so they send spies and agents first, to get a clear picture. But the picture is far from clear. The city is in a chaos, everybody fighting everybody, double-deals, backstabbings are abundant -imagine Raam after Abalach-Re's death multiplied by ten, as the stakes are much higher: the iron mines. And there are a lot of rumours about Kalak, and his possible return, there are cult activities led by ex-templars, etc. Sooner or later one of the SKs (most probably Hamanu) will send an army to conquer the city. (Or maybe two armies are coming, and the task would be to make them turn on each other, and so securing the city.) But before they reach the city, the templars start to get answer on their prays, and their spellcasting power comes back: Kalak is returning from the far places where the spell brought him (like the avangion transformation, where the ava. spends a certain amount of time on other planes). Of course it turns out only slowly, and when the enemy army starts to siege the city Kalak is back and dominates them in his servitude. So now we have city with a fully transformed dragon on his throne, with suitable army to protect it. It needs rebuilding, but sooner or later Tyr's army will go for conquest. The other SKs better start to cooperating, and of course Borys will be also interested in the issue... Dregoth will not come forward, his biggest strenght now is secrecy. He waits until the time is right to act...
Do you think the Sorcerer-Kings' rules would have lasted forever? Or that it was impossible for non-champions to beat them? I don't understand why people think it was impossible for non-champions to take out Kalak (even if he was a champion).
First, the Heroes are not minor players. 2 of them are Champion gladiators, which would probably make them the best warriors in the whole of Tyr, or just about. They are also quite possibly amongst the best warriors, period. Agis of Asticles clearly has a good mastery of the Way, and a noble of considerable influence. Tithian was amongst the highest, if not THE highest ranking Templar Kalak had. That leaves Sadira, whose power at the time is not that clear, or that impressive.
However, she gets her hand on Ktandeo's cane, by a means which seems plausible, which adds to her power. And the rest of the group travels far away to get an Artefact of considerable power, pratically designed to strike down Kalak.
Now, I would think that Kalak would have been exceedingly distracted at the moment he was struck down. Right before receiving the spear, he would probably have been thinking a lot more on the coming transformation and how his plans were seemingly on the right track. I do agree that such beings are incredibly well aware of events, have plans A, B, C, D, etc and contigencies for just about anything, but the Heroes' plan was not only unexpected, but so daring that it was even more unexpected!
Kalak was carried to complete the ceremony, but the spear had struck pretty true (look at that pic in Freedom!), and any non-godly man would have been dead right there. He was certainly crippled by such an attack.
And then, he was attacked again during transformation, at a moment where he was certainly very vulnerable, as he was probably not certain what the 1 step full transformation would entail, was in great pain, was already crippled, and was transforming while being attacked.
So, I don't think its that exagerated to think he could have been struck down. If a SK was to be struck down by a non-champion, that seems as good a scenario as ever.
Now, I haven't read either the amber enchanteress yet, or the Cerulean Storm, (though both are on their way here
), so I don't know about the other SKs.In any case, if you want your sorcerer-kings to be ruling, why don't you play before the death of Kalak? It seems much simpler than changing the whole timeline. Things were unchanged with SKs for centuries before that. Playing at any time then won't make much of a difference.
Anyhow, just a few ramblings.
I think people have less a problem with Kalak dying than they do wiping out severals SKs at the end of the series. Tec, Abalach-Re, Andropinis - they've all ruled for thousands of years, crushing all opposition before them, and then all suddenly gone?
Not to mention Borys. I mean, come on, the Dragon was such a huge part of Athas; even people who didn't play the setting had heard of the Dragon of Tyr. So along with the sorceror-kings, you wipe out the biggest, baddest (non-deity) villain that D&D has ever seen?
It just killed a lot of the flavor of the game. I liked the death of Kalak, and 1 free city-state existing amongst the greed of the other Sorceror-Kings. Slaughtering half the major players in couple pages was just bad writing, IMO. Their deaths seemed cheap, while Kalak's was at least plausible.
imagine you're Sardior. Saradess, your Thane of Obsidian dragons, is being a punk, so you decide to banish her. can't just put her in a box, some mortal will find it and unlock it because that's what mortals do. so you stuff her into a sword, instead, and find an out-of-the-way world, mostly cut off from the rest of the planes--you've always liked this world, because its inhabitants are strongly psionic--and offer the blade to a dwarven king. tell him it's because his line is blessed, make something up; these dwarven kings love that stuff. fine, dandy, Saradess is out of the way.
things go south, on that world, though, and some half-dwarven jerk sticks the sword-prison into the nose of a wannabe dragon god and breaks the damn blade! Saradess--or dissasociated ectoplasm that she's become, all black and gooey from the high concentration of evil and madness--comes gushing out and breaks this wannabe dragon god, one Borys, into his component parts.
then, the Borys-Saradess mix just sits and bubbles for a while. Saradess is too far gone to reform herself into the dragon-god she once was, and Borys is a pulsating liquid--it takes him a while to get used to this new form. eventually, though, he subborns Saradess and takes her power for himself. up pops Borys the almost-god of obsidian dragons. due to Saradess' influence, he's more than a little loopy, but what he lacks in foresight and planning he makes up for with an army of obsidian dragons created from his/her own essence. Borys moves back into his old digs at Ur-Draxa and, after a few (short, unbelievably bloody) battles, brings the rest of the dragon-kings under his rule once more.
he also starts up the 1k-slaves-a-year tax, which is kinda odd because Rajaat's locked up good and tight, no need to renew the binding spells anymore. then again, on Athas, lives are a source of power, and Borys is still stuck as being only partially divine...
Abalach-Re's decline as a SK was already clear. Popular unrest was near open revolt. I'm uncertain of the circumstances that lead Sadira to kill her however, so I'll wait for that.
Borys, however, was the culmination of the Heroes plan, and all the events of the Pentad. Kalak's death was the original plan, but once they succeeded, the heroes strive for a way to combat the dragon, or release Rajaat, in the case of Tithian (and Sacha and Wyan), which also required the dragon's demise.
In any case, it took 10 years with the resources of all these heroes, the help of two ex-champions, the resources available to a SK (tithian's), artifacts of the last dwarven kingdom, and 2 artefacts crafted by Rajaat himself, including the weapon responsible, not counting all the help and guidance of other important figures (SKs, Sa'ram Jo'orsh).
I think its not exagerrated.
Now, Tec's death results of Rajaat revenge, and surely he was able to defeat a champion, when it took 13 of them to defeat him, and they couldn't even kill him off (how Epic can THAT be???). And 1 dead champion isn't that much for such an event. I'd also point out that Tec has immediately been replaced, and the city-state hasn't changed much.
Then, Androphinis is not dead. He's banished. And he will probably return. I'd also point out that there is some material supporting the idea that the Dictator of Balic is still able to contact some of his templars. And in any case, he could very well be freed. (Dragon's version did it, though I'm not so sure if I like the way it was approached).
Anyways, I looks like half of the SKs are dead, but actually, out of the 11 that were present, 4 are dead, and one is banished, and thats over the span of 10 years, and part of a same chain of events.
But the simple thing is, you could very well have your campaign start at any point where the SKs still rule, or around Kalak's death (I use that one), with everybody still there. It still seems easier than to redo everything to make it the same as it already was before the Pentad.
But hey, do what you want.
Originally posted by Shei-Nad
Then, Androphinis is not dead. He's banished. And he will probably return. I'd also point out that there is some material supporting the idea that the Dictator of Balic is still able to contact some of his templars. And in any case, he could very well be freed. (Dragon's version did it, though I'm not so sure if I like the way it was approached).
Rajaat's shadow people could safely thread the Black and go to his prison and receive Rajaat's commands through the Hollow...
If they could do that despite the potency of the champions' spell binding Rajaat, then what can be accomplished by loyal servants of Andropinis, who is not trapped in the Hollow, just in the Black...
Dregoth was gaining power, calling in followers of a Planar nature (Githyanki and their Red Dragons mostly, but others.) Dregoth led his armies out to conquer the surface World.
Abalache-Re: Our group, went to Abalache-Re to inform her that her city was in the warpath of Dragoth and the Githyanki. Well, specifically we went to Raam to inform the Veiled Alliance that Dregoth was on the warpath, since they didn't really think they had the power to do anything, we decided maybe we would beseech Abalach-Re for help, or at least warn her of the threat to her city. She used her superior magic against Dregoth and in a massive explosion, she was killed along with Dregoth (Or so we thought at the time) when the top of her palace exploded. Her Templars, not sure how to proceed and some possessing magic other than what Their Sorceror King provided, created an illusion around the palace to hide the damage, and tried to act like nothing was out of the ordinary and Abalach-Re was still alive
Dregoth was not destroyed completely, and there was a plot to resurrect him, which the party later stopped. But, the Githyanki and their Dragons were still around, and were being rallied by the Tiefling Ranger whom Dregoth brought through his planar gate in an attempt to find a good planar army (Who was formerly in our group, but by this time we had changed gaming locations, and the player of the Tiefling was unable to play, so the DM turned him into an NPC)
With Dregoths apparent death, our party moved into his palace in New Giustenal, raided what rooms we could get into and tried to work on finding a way to get the army of invading Githyanki back through the Planar Gate and into their own plane. Only problem, the Mirrior of the planar gate was cracked, and it was not functional.
Solution: Some how someone came up with the idea that the lense in the pristine tower, if magically/psionically altered would be a good medium to repair the Planar Gate.
Borys: Was chained to the Pristine tower. Not physically, but magically/Psionically as a guardian to prevent the tower from being used in the previous methods which resulted in the sun changing colors, and the Ages to change from Blue to Green to Current. Everyone knew abotu Borys, and we needed a distraction. The Planar Gate still functioned slightly in that we could use it to view remote locations, and we used it to find one of the Red Dragons brought in with the Githyanki. Wounded and near death, we teleported to the Red Dragon, healed it, and made a deal in that if he helped us "distract Borys" we would send it back home or anywhere else it wanted other than this "miserable place." We travelled to the Pristine tower, the dragon helping to keep encounters to a minimum until we got there. It was a glorious battle, but in the end, Borys tired of the play and disintigrated the Dragon. By this time, we were in the tower. It was Difficult, but we reached the lense. In taking the lense, we released Borys from his "chains" to the pristine tower. In thanks, he gave us all a "favor" and then left.
So we get back to Giustenal, repaire the gate, then we go seeking the Githyanki. We find them and the plot that Dregoth is being nursed back to health after using one of our previous party members a sacrifice to speed the process. We help the Githyanki get back, get doublecrossed by another former party member (Note to people. If you ever play in our games, don't stop showing up, because the DM does some devious stuff with your characters) But in the end everything turns out fine, except that now we have a recovering Dregoth to deal with. So we find Borys. With a little "How would you like revenge on one of them that forced dragonhood on you" type things, he came, destroyed Dregoth, and granted a favor in the form of a wish, as long as it was within his power to grant. The main one to help him attain his revenge (Our party's Preserver), wished to be able to freely cast magic without persecution. "Granted." She was now his High Templar of Raam, and in charge of maintaining order.
This led to other adventures with Nibenay "convincing" us to slay Borys (Yeah, he besieged Raam and began to slaughter innocents until we agreed to the quest) because we had released a menace unto the world of Athas.
Presumably, had the campaign not ended with the death of Borys and after over 2 years of gaming, we might have gone on to deal with Kalak, since we were heavily allied with the Veiled Alliance as well as being Templars of Borys in Raam.
DM still has our characters, and should I ever move back to Socal, I would very much like to get him running this game again. Only game I have ever played in that had actual progression to high/epic levels. Most usually start over after 10th level or so.
Originally posted by Agonar
DM still has our characters, and should I ever move back to Socal, I would very much like to get him running this game again. Only game I have ever played in that had actual progression to high/epic levels. Most usually start over after 10th level or so.
I generally use former PCs as NPCs on my DMings, it's cool, you always cause a reaction, be it deception or joy, the players always react better to known PCs/NPCs.
It's part of the life, it's part of the great chain of fate. Sometimes we're on the same side, sometimes not.
Once that I started the game with just made characters, everyone a newbie. The plot was to chase and kill a wizard (Yarak) that was menacing the kingdon. The king himself introduced the PCs to a sort-of powerful NPC, a wizard-cleric royal councillor (Cedrik).
This guy (Cedrik) helped then from level 1st to 8th, ressurrecting, healing, providing equipment, giving some tips and etc, just to betray then at the moment when they were the most vulnerable, revealing himself as the one wizard thas was menacing the kingdon (Yarak).
The hole thing happens as he calls his servants (the bad guys) incompetents, uncapable of killing some unexperienced and weak heroes (the players), complaining that he would have to do all by himself.
Outcome: Yarak/Cedrik fails to kill the players because an extremelly powerfull being (but with limited freedom of acts) interfere and saves the players that time.
After this, the chase thing starts again but with one "flavor" in revenge Yarak/Cedrik kidnapps a son of one of the players and magically raise him to adulthood as Fighter 15/Defiler 10 (Necromancer capable of draining energy to heal himself, virtually imortal), the son is introduced as "The Black Knight" to the players.
This Black Knight starts a self-proclaimed prophecy: - I shall destroy every city, village or town, killing every one, that these (the players) have set foot on. And each time I meet with then one shall perish! (That's a good way to get rid of the PCs abandoned by missing players.)
So here's the moral challenge: To let him destroy the villages, or to fight him and have one of us dead? Since the majority of the characters were good, they decided to seek him and risk death.
Outcome 2: After a hard investigation, the players find out that Yarak/Cedrik had lied to the Black Knight (Cedrik said to the BK that his father abandoned him and killed his mother), and manage to tell him the truth and prove it. Until there, about 6 PCs were already dead.
Cast into the Black
Enchantment (Compulsion) [Teleportation] [Mind-Affecting]
Spellcraft DC: 170
Components: V, S, XP
Casting Time: 1 minute
Range: Touch
Target: Creature touched
Duration: Instantaneous (compulsion permanent)
Saving Throw: Will negates (see text)
Spell Resistance: Yes
To Develop: 1,530,000gp; 31 days; 61,200 XP. Seeds: transport (DC 27), compel (DC 19). Factors:
unwilling target (+4 DC), +10 to DC of subject’s save (+20 DC), interplanar travel (+4 DC), unreasonable compulsion (+10 DC), increase duration to permanent (x5 DC). Mitigating factors: burn 20,000 XP (-200 DC), backlash damage 50d6 (-50 DC).
If the character succeeds at a melee touch attack, the target must succeed at a Will saving throw (DC = the standard epic spell DC + 10) or be cast immediately into the Black, there to contemplate his fate for 1000 years.
XP Cost: 20,000 XP
Backlash Damage: 50d6
... Going by the Seed:compel description, the compulsion of this spell lasts until the duration of the spell ends (never) or until the compulsion is completed, which would take 1000 years. This doesn't get Andropinis out any sooner... but understanding how Andropinis is trapped is the first step in getting him back out.
One option is to change the planar traits of the Black, so that time flows differently there, say faster. Or at least, time flows faster where Andropinis is trapped.
Perhaps Andropinis can use an Epic Spell of his own to speed the passage of time on himself. 1000 years pass for him, but only a much shorter interval passes on Athas.
Other agents, such as former Templars, could try to lift the compulsion, and perhaps after 100's of years, succeed. The key here is that Andropinis himself can't attack it from this angle, since he is subject to the compulsion, having presumably failed his save. He doesn't know that it is a mere compulsion, he believes he is bound to the Black. But this isn't to say that he couldn't instruct others to try to free him. Of course I can't envision a Sorcerer King letting anyone perform magical experiments on him.
Finally, the spell keeps Andropinis physically in the Black, but it doesn't preclude communication, or even interaction with Athas proper. I'd circumscribe this interaction though, since I'd want Andropinis to have some motivation for physically returning to Athas.
Now, as to why Rajaat would construct the compulsion to only last 1000 years? Beats me, but I smell adventure hooks there...
Rajaat being imprisoned in the Hollow could be a similar spell, but much more powerful, and perhaps without the compel component. The Hollow would do most of the work in keeping Rajaat imprisoned, like being timeless (an exhausted Rajaat would never be able to gather energy to cast spells), having zero links with Athas or the other planes (individually Rajaat wouldn't be powerful enough to breach the Hollow), or being magic dead (as the athas.org document has it). Though from the source material we know the enchantment needed continuing maintenance, but that could be built into an epic spell as an ad hoc mitigating factor.
I'm finding that epic spellcasting is very useful in describing aspects of the Dark Sun world in 3E terms. With epic spells Dregoth can hatch Dray (a non-divine Origin of Species), the ancient nature masters can transform halflings into humans, elves, dwarves, etc. (same spell, but not corrupt), Rajaat can invert and float a stone pyramid (as in WRotJC, check out the 3E version Proctiv's Move Mountain in the FR Player's Guide to Faerun), and Hamanu can appear as the caustic poison gas breathing Lion of Urik (with transform, fortify and other seeds). And, of course, the much discussed Dragon/Avangion/Elemental Metamorphosis spells.
my SKs:
kalak:
dead. killed by the original tyrian heroes. wont come back.
Hamanu:
supposedly killed by Dregoth, after the PCs neutrelized his vortex, using an artifact given by Mon adderath, whom they think is a pyreen.
he was cut from his powers, and dregoth arrived and melted him, all that happened in the plane of earth.
Demetrius ascended in his place, and took control of urik and tyr.
Hamanu is not dead. but he is cut from his powers, but he will return...
Abalach re :
dead. killed by the new tyrian heroes, after three years of campaign planning and force gathering. was killed during a two real day siege on tyr. her death was the climax of the whole campaign.
andropinis:
he fought an avangion the PCs raised, was wounded, but now fully functional.
dregoth:
plans his rising. and he will be rising....
ths other SKs are still in their cities.
Originally posted by Cap'n Nick
Andy's escape was a circuitous route though, taking him into the realm where the Maenads were imprisoned. Whether they too were trapped in the black or not though . . .
I always thought that when you get cast off into the Black, you become a Shadow Giant, like Rajaat's halfling servants, while Andropinis was cast off and imprisonned, meaning he's a Shadow Giant who can't enter Athas.
As much as I hate the intervention of other cosmologies, or even extended athasian cosmologies (beyond Athas, the Gray and the Black), I think the Maenads would not be stuck in the Black but elsewhere, since the description of their prison realm is one of crystals and light and flesh and blood. The Black is black and shadowy, and cold. So the Black IMO is a no-no.
Originally posted by Dawnstealer
Androponis - One of my favorite SKs, Andy found his way out of the black and came back as a psuedo shadow-dragon. He was not a happy camper.
Kalid-ma - Never focussed on this one. Whatever happened to him, he's still gone.
Think that's all of them.
I've always thought having 'grey' or 'shadow' dragons would be kinda cool. I mean, under 2e rules, a shadow mage (defiler) could have made it to the 20/20 needed to become a dragon (but 50% shadow).
Hmm.... i like the idea if Androponis coming back as a Shadow Dragon... alot....