UnCon: War of the Worlds - Downloaded from the Wizards Community, all coding removed by Solauren

UnCon: War of the Worlds

Post/Author/DateTime Post
#1
ORC_Paradox
Sep 18, 2005 21:43:29 This competition is multi layered and is taking place across the cosmos.

It is run in four phases. The first phase runs until Thursday. This is where people post their entries. On Thursday, nomination phase will take place where people may nominate threads to move to the next round. The top entries (Three to five, depending on the number of entries) will be up on a poll to be voted on as Friday's phase. The votes will end Friday night.

The final entries will be put up against each other in one final poll against the top entries from the other world entries on Saturday. Woo hoo! You're not just setting up the best entry for your area, but against the other areas as well!

Here's what you'll be making:

A mace.

Not just any mace, but one that represents this world. We need to see the back story of the mace, the powers of the mace, the material it's made of, and it's current location/owner. Be as creative and descriptive as possible. The challenge is to present the mace as part of your chosen game world, but be clearly explained to folks who may or may not know anything about the world. Folks will be voting on your entry based on coolness factor and adaptability to any game world, even with the rich history. What this means is we don't need a detailed description of every war in the game world, or all the details of the game world. But enough of the flavor of the game world should be apparent in the mace's description.
#2
ripvanwormer
Sep 20, 2005 0:48:18 [b]The Philosopher’s Club[/b]

The Philosopher’s Club is a legend in Sigil, a blunt instrument said to have been forged from one of the Lady’s own blades, though this is surely the very barmiest of nonsense. It’s not like she’s missing a blade, or as if anyone has the power to take one from her in any case.

While the blades of the Lady of Pain are subtle enough to cut shadow or reality itself to ribbons, the Philosopher’s Club is a crude thing made for bashing. The uncanny thing about it is that it changes depending on a basher’s point of view.

To lawful types, the Philosopher’s Club functions as an axiomatic weapon. For a chaotic wielder, the weapon is anarchic. For an evil character the weapon is unholy, while for good characters it is effectively holy in every respect. For true neutral characters, the Philosopher’s Club will be whatever sort of alignment is most effective against its wielder’s current foes 50% of the time; the other 50% of the time it will be a random alignment, according to the ever-changing needs of the Balance itself (as determined by the aurumach rilmani, or whatever other eldritch powers determine such matters).

The Philosopher’s Club is otherwise a medium heavy mace +4 made from a corroded greenish steel. It has long spikes on it, and does both bludgeoning and piercing damage. The figures of celestials, slaadi, modrons, rilmani, and fiends are shaped in its shaft.

The Club is currently thought to be somewhere in Sigil Below, carried there by spellweavers who stole it from a Revolutionary League safehouse (also in Sigil Below), who stole it from the Fated's own headquarters. The spellweavers wish merely to study its magic, as is their wont.

Moderate evocation [Evil, Law, Good, Chaotic]; CL 21st; Craft Magic Arms and Armor, unholy blight, holy smite, chaos hammer, order's wrath, creator must be neutral and philosophical; Price 72,000 gp
#3
caoslayer
Sep 20, 2005 7:20:04 The Planebasher.

The chant says than this legendary weapon was maded for being used by a planewalker barbarian that was too dumb for using any other teleporting metod. But now the dark says that the mace was lost after that poor sod landed in the wrong place.

The head of the mace it is fine crafted on rusted cold iron, each face of the ace have sculpted notorious localizations of the planes, one face for each plane on the wheel and the base of the head represents the outlands where the shaft it is the endless spire which is ended by a metal donut.

This is a wild weapon, used mainly by desesperated people who want to be anywhere else but also for valiant heroes (aka clueless) who wants to kick the planes and meet new challenges in strange lands. This weapon represent the planewalker´s spirit of adventure of meeting unknow places and people where you can find the glory or the death.

This disruption thundering mace +5 Have a great power similar to a well of many worlds. As a Standard Action a basher can hit a flat stone surface and cause a breach in the planes creating a gate to a random plane just like a well of many worlds. The breach have a diametre of 5 feets and any medium or small creature can walk into it without troubles, a large one needs to crawl or fall into and bigger creatures cant enter the breach; also the gate it is a brief effect and only last one full round.
The planebasher it is usually used close to send an enemy to another plane, for that, the basher wielding the planebasher have to hit the ground close to the enemy and both must sucess in a reflex save DC 24 or being suck into the plane (If someone it is bull rushed into the breach gets no save).

Strong Conjuration; CL 17th; Craft Magic Arms and Armor, Gate, Blindness/Deafness,Heal; Price 210,000 gp
#4
zombiegleemax
Sep 20, 2005 13:27:20 [i]The Long Bone of Odom[/i]

Before there was light, or sound, or darkness. Before there was Existence. Before All that Is and Always Was was, there was a meeting of the great forces. Umr came from the far Mists. Glasa from the Uttercold. Palna came from the Writhing fields, though She spoke little during the entire proceedings, and Prushabrahm came from Above.

When the conclave was organized, Umr spoke to them all of his plans. They would make the World, he said, not just the World, but Existence in all of its myriad beauty and horror.

From the Great Waters they called forth Odom, the Primordial Man. Umr gave Odom his destiny, his role. Prushabrahm gave to Odom knowledge, the knowledge of what was intended of him. Glasa gave to Odom the freedom to choose, to follow his destiny or to turn his back on it. And Palna, She gave nothing, She merely watched the proceedings in silence.

The Primordial Man sat long in contemplation, the Great Waters lapping at his feet. Finally, he nodded his head. He would do as they asked. The Great Forces, with the utmost care and reverence, took apart Odom, the first man. From his teeth they built the stars, cold glowing orbs. From his eyes they made the suns. From his muscles and his bones they built the many worlds. His heart became Fire, from his lungs Air, his bladder and liver Water and Earth. From his breath they spun the ethereal to bind the primeval forces to the new born worlds and from his thoughts they created the astral. It was from Odom’s dreams that they fashioned Heaven, the Lower Spheres from his Nightmares, the Upper Spheres from his Fantasies.

As the Great Ones worked, other things watched them from outside the circle. Dark, fell things that watched and lurked. As Umir bent over the body of Odom to craft the seas of his blood, the things struck, making off with the Man’s femur and vanishing into the far fell places beyond which the Great Ones fear to tread.

A ripple of shock ran through the Great Beings; the Great Work was halted. The things had Odom’s long bone, none knew what ill tidings this bided. It was Palna who broke the silence as she reached forward and drew out the other long bone of the Primordial Man and clasped it in her hand.

“This will be taken and hidden. In the eons that follow, it will be the only way to protect your work from those from beyond. It will be safe, in dreams, in fantasies, in nightmares, blocking the doorway through which they will lay siege.”

With that, Palna vanished, carrying the femur into the dreams of those fledgling beasts who were just now arising on the unfinished worlds.

* * * * * *

Deep in the Wall of Color, where the dreams of men lie, there is a hidden place. It is hidden to men and Gods, flanked and encircled by the dreams of the darkest vile intelligences in the multiverse, and separated even from these by the will of the alien forces of the Dreaming. In this place there is an eternal maze, a hedge maze of such complexity that only the truly mad can navigate its walls. In the center of the maze is a treasure so important that even the petty human deities cannot be trusted with it

Upon first encountering The Long Bone of Odom, it appears to be the femur of a creature of unimaginable size. Nothing grows on the bone, no moss or dirt mars its gleaming ivory surface. Those who touch the long bone without first speaking a litany to the Great Forces is destroyed, completely and utterly. No form of resurrection can return them to life.

When the proper chant is spoken, however, the Long Bone shrinks, becoming a mace of the wielder’s size. From then on, anyone can wield the weapon without speaking the proper verses without fear of utter decimation. However, without the chant, the Long Bone bestows upon its wielder two negative levels that can not be removed unless the weapon is released. These negative levels never lead to actual level loss.

The Long Bone of Odom acts as a +5 Aberration Bane Heavy Mace. It deals damage as a Heavy mace two-sizes larger than it actually is. In addition, it is treated as a Bane weapon against any creature that exists in realms outside of the normal multiversal order. Psuedonatural beings, Keepers, and Kaorti are just some examples of such creatures.

In addition, The Long Bone allows its wielder to continually See in Darkness as a Baatezu and allows its wielder to detect all aberrations and extramultiversal entities within 500’ regardless of line of sigh and line of effect. In addition, its wielder is able to sense any portals or planar rips within 500’ automatically. As a Full-Round Action, 1/week the wielder can destroy any portal that he can sense. When this ability is used on a permanent rip or portal there is a 50% chance that the portal is destroyed and a 50% chance that it is merely suppressed for 1d4 weeks.

It is likely, that the Long Bone of Odom contains other abilities, ensorcelled into it by the forces before time, hidden powers that will only be revealed when the stars and planes are right. But for now, it remains hidden, locked beyond all mortal reach. Waiting for its dark twin to return and threaten Existence.
#5
zombiegleemax
Sep 21, 2005 4:23:27 Mace (small town)
Population: 1.033 (Dwarves 78%, Humans 8%, Gnomes 6%, Half-dragons 4%, Earth genasi 3%)
Government: Liberal despotism
Religions: St. Cuthbert, Helm
Major Imports: Ale, livestock
Major Exports: Silver, adamantine
Aligments: LN, LG, TN

Below the giant spiked metal star, a large mining colony thrives. Mostly dwarven population digs tirelessly within the mines, warding off aberrations and evil elementals through the reality-deprived mines below the ground. Altough the mines are in constant danger, the village above is well protected by the silver dragons nesting on a giant wooden handle high above the village

History
When the world was young and gods still knew no concept of size, a young deity, Ehugis the barbarian decided to mercilessly fight evil wherever he could find it. For that purpose, he has created a mace which would destroy evil and chaos with no mercy. Fiend after fiend, young barbarian hacked throgh the ancient forces of primary evil. At first, the pantheon supported his cause, but soon they saw the mortal population being lazy and useless. Without evil to tempt them and fight them, they just lived peacefully and let monstruos predators eat them without learning how to protect themselves. Soon enough, the deities decided to take some diplomatic action. They pleaded with Ehugis to stop his rampage and let evil do it's purpose in the multiverse. That just made Ehugis angrier, so he started fighting his own kin as well as forces of evil. After a few dead clerics and damaged gods, Ehugises mace of law and good couldn't take it anymore and refused to fight for his rebellious master and creator. Angry and desperate, Ehugis the barbarian threw the mace down below his plane to be destroyed by the elements. But the mace fell onto the material plane almost intact and the crash made a holy burst of epic proportions.

Years later, residual magic from the damaged mace has made the surrounding area enriched with adamantine which attracted a dwarven mining caravan. Also, the uncontrollable magic around the mace didn't bother the dwarves since they were suspicious of magic and sorcery anyway and this was a perfect way to discourage spellcasters from moving into the area

Pretty soon, the dwarves made friends with a nest of silver dragons high up on the mace handle. Now the dragons protect their kin living within the community

A walk around the town

Disregarding the mace itself, this town is not much different from any other mining community. They have a small market, mostly offering mining equipment and refined ore. In the center of the market is a large fountain built directly on a river spring. Neghbouring cities claim that the water has weird magical effects, but the citizens of Mace still use it for drinking and never notice any problems. Around the market, there are small shops, followed by mining cottages and local alehouses. Northwards, below the star-shaped mace head are the mine enterances

Below the ground are the dangerous silver mines enriched with occasional traces of adamantine. Reality is heavily damaged by the mace, so the hallways are not easy to navigate if you're not used to it's unpredictable shifts and moves. A trip through the caves that lasted a few hours yesterday may last for days and lead to a whole new realm, even a different plane. If that's not enough, creatures of insanity and insanity driven elementals haunt these mines regulary, so the citizens sometimes hire adventurers to clense the mines or protect the mining expeditions

Notable personalities

The leader of the town is a noble warrior/blacksmith Grummor the Ironsworn (male Dwarf/half-dragon Ftr9/Exp2, LN) follower of St.Cuthbert and a hero of the last war. His actual rulership is mostly just for show because the real governing is done by the gnomes who supervise the trade of ore.

Anyone wanting to search the mines will eventually get lost, but rumor says that there's a duergar hermit living below the ground, willing to lead anyone to their destination for a good feast or female companionship.

A small library also doubles as the temple of Helm. Currently, there are no full-time clerics, so most of the weekly rituals are done by the librarian Ayanda Lanche (female earth genasi adp4/exp2, LG)

Plot hook

An old tome has been found and it speaks about a mace of great power. The mace of Ehugis, it says, can destroy chaos like no other mace and it changes size to fit any weilder. No more is said about it, but a command word to use it and a few clues to pinpoint it's possible location. It would soon be discarded as another myth, but for some reason, three mages have each started an independent search for the mace. If any one of them finds it, there could be a big disaster in the free world. Luckily, the mages might just kill each other before they find the mace
#6
ripvanwormer
Sep 22, 2005 0:59:28 Aranak, The Living Mace

The bladelings live in Zoronor, the City of Shadows in Ocanthus, the fourth layer of Acheron, the plane of brutally conformist law. Among flying shards of Stygian ice, protected by the ever-thirsty Blood Forest, they dwell isolated from all other planes and society. To most, they are mere legend.

Aranak Iron was a bladeling hunter, given the task of slaying intruders who came to near to Zoronor with hostile intent and finding meat in the thinly-populated Ocanthan void.

Hunting alone one day, Aranak was ambushed by a party of duergars from Thuldanin, two layers up. Aranak killed many of them, but ultimately he was captured.

In a secret, profane forge in Thuldanin, the bound Aranak was lowered into the flames, and with a combination of spell craft and smith craft Aranak was reforged into something no longer remotely humanoid.

Aranak had become a living mace.

Aranak, as a mace, is fully six feet long, a conglomeration of iron, wood, and never melting ice. His handle makes up most of his length; it is riddled with veins and looks like a rope woven from intestines. His head, the size of a human skull, resembles a bladeling face frozen in mid-scream.

Aranak is a Huge heavy war mace +1. He does 2d8 bludgeoning damage per successful hit. He has an intelligence of 12, a charisma of 14, a wisdom of 8, and an ego of 3. His alignment is lawful neutral. He can communicate with his wielder via telepathy. Taking advantage of the shadowy nature of Aranak’s home city, the mace was dweomered to cast minor image and mirror image once per day, and darkness three times a day. The dwarves' client also insisted that the icy mace be made to quench normal fires three times a day, in order to intimidate rivals in Muspelheim.

The dwarves sold Aranak to their client, a fire giant sorcerer named Helgid. It is from Helgid that Anarak learned a bit of magic - he’s a 2nd level sorcerer himself with the still and silent spell feats, and casts spells appropriately. Anarak was killed in a battle with members of the Fated faction and taken as a trophy. Later on, he was sold as part of a really good deal on a tremendous amount of pipeweed, and he now hangs on the wall of the small, burrow-like living room of a neutral evil halfling merchant in Sigil’s Market Ward above his tobaccoist shop. The halfling was killed in an expedition to the Abyssal layer of Sulfanorum of the Thousand Smokes, and his home has come to be inhabited by a pair of witchknifes (see MMIII) who have yet to touch Anarak, and therefore he is not able to communicate with them.

Caster Level: 11th; Prerequisites: Craft Magic Arms and Armor and darkness, mirror image, minor image, and quench normal fires.
Cost: 55,012 gp

After the Faction War, Aranak was discovered by and eventually joined the Seeker faction, and with the aid of former Believers of the Source was reforged into something more like a humanoid, a golem-like creature that came to be destroyed by Sodkillers, only to be reincarnated as a human wizard still calling himself Aranak, the Living Mace.

This new Aranak considers himself to be a force for justice, and believes the test that will prepare him ultimately for godhood is to protect the weak against evil magicians. He wanders the plane, opposing chaos and evil wherever he goes.
#7
ORC_Paradox
Sep 25, 2005 9:33:44 http://boards1.wizards.com/showthread.php?t=508286

Final round

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 ORC_Paradox Sep 18, 2005 21:43:29	This competition is multi layered and is taking place across the cosmos. It is run in four phases. The first phase runs until Thursday. This is where people post their entries. On Thursday, nomination phase will take place where people may nominate threads to move to the next round. The top entries (Three to five, depending on the number of entries) will be up on a poll to be voted on as Friday's phase. The votes will end Friday night. The final entries will be put up against each other in one final poll against the top entries from the other world entries on Saturday. Woo hoo! You're not just setting up the best entry for your area, but against the other areas as well! Here's what you'll be making: A mace. Not just any mace, but one that represents this world. We need to see the back story of the mace, the powers of the mace, the material it's made of, and it's current location/owner. Be as creative and descriptive as possible. The challenge is to present the mace as part of your chosen game world, but be clearly explained to folks who may or may not know anything about the world. Folks will be voting on your entry based on coolness factor and adaptability to any game world, even with the rich history. What this means is we don't need a detailed description of every war in the game world, or all the details of the game world. But enough of the flavor of the game world should be apparent in the mace's description.
#2 ripvanwormer Sep 20, 2005 0:48:18	[b]The Philosopher’s Club[/b] The Philosopher’s Club is a legend in Sigil, a blunt instrument said to have been forged from one of the Lady’s own blades, though this is surely the very barmiest of nonsense. It’s not like she’s missing a blade, or as if anyone has the power to take one from her in any case. While the blades of the Lady of Pain are subtle enough to cut shadow or reality itself to ribbons, the Philosopher’s Club is a crude thing made for bashing. The uncanny thing about it is that it changes depending on a basher’s point of view. To lawful types, the Philosopher’s Club functions as an axiomatic weapon. For a chaotic wielder, the weapon is anarchic. For an evil character the weapon is unholy, while for good characters it is effectively holy in every respect. For true neutral characters, the Philosopher’s Club will be whatever sort of alignment is most effective against its wielder’s current foes 50% of the time; the other 50% of the time it will be a random alignment, according to the ever-changing needs of the Balance itself (as determined by the aurumach rilmani, or whatever other eldritch powers determine such matters). The Philosopher’s Club is otherwise a medium heavy mace +4 made from a corroded greenish steel. It has long spikes on it, and does both bludgeoning and piercing damage. The figures of celestials, slaadi, modrons, rilmani, and fiends are shaped in its shaft. The Club is currently thought to be somewhere in Sigil Below, carried there by spellweavers who stole it from a Revolutionary League safehouse (also in Sigil Below), who stole it from the Fated's own headquarters. The spellweavers wish merely to study its magic, as is their wont. Moderate evocation [Evil, Law, Good, Chaotic]; CL 21st; Craft Magic Arms and Armor, unholy blight, holy smite, chaos hammer, order's wrath, creator must be neutral and philosophical; Price 72,000 gp
#3 caoslayer Sep 20, 2005 7:20:04	The Planebasher. The chant says than this legendary weapon was maded for being used by a planewalker barbarian that was too dumb for using any other teleporting metod. But now the dark says that the mace was lost after that poor sod landed in the wrong place. The head of the mace it is fine crafted on rusted cold iron, each face of the ace have sculpted notorious localizations of the planes, one face for each plane on the wheel and the base of the head represents the outlands where the shaft it is the endless spire which is ended by a metal donut. This is a wild weapon, used mainly by desesperated people who want to be anywhere else but also for valiant heroes (aka clueless) who wants to kick the planes and meet new challenges in strange lands. This weapon represent the planewalker´s spirit of adventure of meeting unknow places and people where you can find the glory or the death. This disruption thundering mace +5 Have a great power similar to a well of many worlds. As a Standard Action a basher can hit a flat stone surface and cause a breach in the planes creating a gate to a random plane just like a well of many worlds. The breach have a diametre of 5 feets and any medium or small creature can walk into it without troubles, a large one needs to crawl or fall into and bigger creatures cant enter the breach; also the gate it is a brief effect and only last one full round. The planebasher it is usually used close to send an enemy to another plane, for that, the basher wielding the planebasher have to hit the ground close to the enemy and both must sucess in a reflex save DC 24 or being suck into the plane (If someone it is bull rushed into the breach gets no save). Strong Conjuration; CL 17th; Craft Magic Arms and Armor, Gate, Blindness/Deafness,Heal; Price 210,000 gp
#4 zombiegleemax Sep 20, 2005 13:27:20	[i]The Long Bone of Odom[/i] Before there was light, or sound, or darkness. Before there was Existence. Before All that Is and Always Was was, there was a meeting of the great forces. Umr came from the far Mists. Glasa from the Uttercold. Palna came from the Writhing fields, though She spoke little during the entire proceedings, and Prushabrahm came from Above. When the conclave was organized, Umr spoke to them all of his plans. They would make the World, he said, not just the World, but Existence in all of its myriad beauty and horror. From the Great Waters they called forth Odom, the Primordial Man. Umr gave Odom his destiny, his role. Prushabrahm gave to Odom knowledge, the knowledge of what was intended of him. Glasa gave to Odom the freedom to choose, to follow his destiny or to turn his back on it. And Palna, She gave nothing, She merely watched the proceedings in silence. The Primordial Man sat long in contemplation, the Great Waters lapping at his feet. Finally, he nodded his head. He would do as they asked. The Great Forces, with the utmost care and reverence, took apart Odom, the first man. From his teeth they built the stars, cold glowing orbs. From his eyes they made the suns. From his muscles and his bones they built the many worlds. His heart became Fire, from his lungs Air, his bladder and liver Water and Earth. From his breath they spun the ethereal to bind the primeval forces to the new born worlds and from his thoughts they created the astral. It was from Odom’s dreams that they fashioned Heaven, the Lower Spheres from his Nightmares, the Upper Spheres from his Fantasies. As the Great Ones worked, other things watched them from outside the circle. Dark, fell things that watched and lurked. As Umir bent over the body of Odom to craft the seas of his blood, the things struck, making off with the Man’s femur and vanishing into the far fell places beyond which the Great Ones fear to tread. A ripple of shock ran through the Great Beings; the Great Work was halted. The things had Odom’s long bone, none knew what ill tidings this bided. It was Palna who broke the silence as she reached forward and drew out the other long bone of the Primordial Man and clasped it in her hand. “This will be taken and hidden. In the eons that follow, it will be the only way to protect your work from those from beyond. It will be safe, in dreams, in fantasies, in nightmares, blocking the doorway through which they will lay siege.” With that, Palna vanished, carrying the femur into the dreams of those fledgling beasts who were just now arising on the unfinished worlds. * * * * * * Deep in the Wall of Color, where the dreams of men lie, there is a hidden place. It is hidden to men and Gods, flanked and encircled by the dreams of the darkest vile intelligences in the multiverse, and separated even from these by the will of the alien forces of the Dreaming. In this place there is an eternal maze, a hedge maze of such complexity that only the truly mad can navigate its walls. In the center of the maze is a treasure so important that even the petty human deities cannot be trusted with it Upon first encountering The Long Bone of Odom, it appears to be the femur of a creature of unimaginable size. Nothing grows on the bone, no moss or dirt mars its gleaming ivory surface. Those who touch the long bone without first speaking a litany to the Great Forces is destroyed, completely and utterly. No form of resurrection can return them to life. When the proper chant is spoken, however, the Long Bone shrinks, becoming a mace of the wielder’s size. From then on, anyone can wield the weapon without speaking the proper verses without fear of utter decimation. However, without the chant, the Long Bone bestows upon its wielder two negative levels that can not be removed unless the weapon is released. These negative levels never lead to actual level loss. The Long Bone of Odom acts as a +5 Aberration Bane Heavy Mace. It deals damage as a Heavy mace two-sizes larger than it actually is. In addition, it is treated as a Bane weapon against any creature that exists in realms outside of the normal multiversal order. Psuedonatural beings, Keepers, and Kaorti are just some examples of such creatures. In addition, The Long Bone allows its wielder to continually See in Darkness as a Baatezu and allows its wielder to detect all aberrations and extramultiversal entities within 500’ regardless of line of sigh and line of effect. In addition, its wielder is able to sense any portals or planar rips within 500’ automatically. As a Full-Round Action, 1/week the wielder can destroy any portal that he can sense. When this ability is used on a permanent rip or portal there is a 50% chance that the portal is destroyed and a 50% chance that it is merely suppressed for 1d4 weeks. It is likely, that the Long Bone of Odom contains other abilities, ensorcelled into it by the forces before time, hidden powers that will only be revealed when the stars and planes are right. But for now, it remains hidden, locked beyond all mortal reach. Waiting for its dark twin to return and threaten Existence.
#5 zombiegleemax Sep 21, 2005 4:23:27	*Mace* (small town) Population: 1.033 (Dwarves 78%, Humans 8%, Gnomes 6%, Half-dragons 4%, Earth genasi 3%) Government: Liberal despotism Religions: St. Cuthbert, Helm Major Imports: Ale, livestock Major Exports: Silver, adamantine Aligments: LN, LG, TN Below the giant spiked metal star, a large mining colony thrives. Mostly dwarven population digs tirelessly within the mines, warding off aberrations and evil elementals through the reality-deprived mines below the ground. Altough the mines are in constant danger, the village above is well protected by the silver dragons nesting on a giant wooden handle high above the village History When the world was young and gods still knew no concept of size, a young deity, Ehugis the barbarian decided to mercilessly fight evil wherever he could find it. For that purpose, he has created a mace which would destroy evil and chaos with no mercy. Fiend after fiend, young barbarian hacked throgh the ancient forces of primary evil. At first, the pantheon supported his cause, but soon they saw the mortal population being lazy and useless. Without evil to tempt them and fight them, they just lived peacefully and let monstruos predators eat them without learning how to protect themselves. Soon enough, the deities decided to take some diplomatic action. They pleaded with Ehugis to stop his rampage and let evil do it's purpose in the multiverse. That just made Ehugis angrier, so he started fighting his own kin as well as forces of evil. After a few dead clerics and damaged gods, Ehugises mace of law and good couldn't take it anymore and refused to fight for his rebellious master and creator. Angry and desperate, Ehugis the barbarian threw the mace down below his plane to be destroyed by the elements. But the mace fell onto the material plane almost intact and the crash made a holy burst of epic proportions. Years later, residual magic from the damaged mace has made the surrounding area enriched with adamantine which attracted a dwarven mining caravan. Also, the uncontrollable magic around the mace didn't bother the dwarves since they were suspicious of magic and sorcery anyway and this was a perfect way to discourage spellcasters from moving into the area Pretty soon, the dwarves made friends with a nest of silver dragons high up on the mace handle. Now the dragons protect their kin living within the community A walk around the town Disregarding the mace itself, this town is not much different from any other mining community. They have a small market, mostly offering mining equipment and refined ore. In the center of the market is a large fountain built directly on a river spring. Neghbouring cities claim that the water has weird magical effects, but the citizens of Mace still use it for drinking and never notice any problems. Around the market, there are small shops, followed by mining cottages and local alehouses. Northwards, below the star-shaped mace head are the mine enterances Below the ground are the dangerous silver mines enriched with occasional traces of adamantine. Reality is heavily damaged by the mace, so the hallways are not easy to navigate if you're not used to it's unpredictable shifts and moves. A trip through the caves that lasted a few hours yesterday may last for days and lead to a whole new realm, even a different plane. If that's not enough, creatures of insanity and insanity driven elementals haunt these mines regulary, so the citizens sometimes hire adventurers to clense the mines or protect the mining expeditions Notable personalities The leader of the town is a noble warrior/blacksmith Grummor the Ironsworn (male Dwarf/half-dragon Ftr9/Exp2, LN) follower of St.Cuthbert and a hero of the last war. His actual rulership is mostly just for show because the real governing is done by the gnomes who supervise the trade of ore. Anyone wanting to search the mines will eventually get lost, but rumor says that there's a duergar hermit living below the ground, willing to lead anyone to their destination for a good feast or female companionship. A small library also doubles as the temple of Helm. Currently, there are no full-time clerics, so most of the weekly rituals are done by the librarian Ayanda Lanche (female earth genasi adp4/exp2, LG) Plot hook An old tome has been found and it speaks about a mace of great power. The mace of Ehugis, it says, can destroy chaos like no other mace and it changes size to fit any weilder. No more is said about it, but a command word to use it and a few clues to pinpoint it's possible location. It would soon be discarded as another myth, but for some reason, three mages have each started an independent search for the mace. If any one of them finds it, there could be a big disaster in the free world. Luckily, the mages might just kill each other before they find the mace
#6 ripvanwormer Sep 22, 2005 0:59:28	Aranak, The Living Mace The bladelings live in Zoronor, the City of Shadows in Ocanthus, the fourth layer of Acheron, the plane of brutally conformist law. Among flying shards of Stygian ice, protected by the ever-thirsty Blood Forest, they dwell isolated from all other planes and society. To most, they are mere legend. Aranak Iron was a bladeling hunter, given the task of slaying intruders who came to near to Zoronor with hostile intent and finding meat in the thinly-populated Ocanthan void. Hunting alone one day, Aranak was ambushed by a party of duergars from Thuldanin, two layers up. Aranak killed many of them, but ultimately he was captured. In a secret, profane forge in Thuldanin, the bound Aranak was lowered into the flames, and with a combination of spell craft and smith craft Aranak was reforged into something no longer remotely humanoid. Aranak had become a living mace. Aranak, as a mace, is fully six feet long, a conglomeration of iron, wood, and never melting ice. His handle makes up most of his length; it is riddled with veins and looks like a rope woven from intestines. His head, the size of a human skull, resembles a bladeling face frozen in mid-scream. Aranak is a Huge heavy war mace +1. He does 2d8 bludgeoning damage per successful hit. He has an intelligence of 12, a charisma of 14, a wisdom of 8, and an ego of 3. His alignment is lawful neutral. He can communicate with his wielder via telepathy. Taking advantage of the shadowy nature of Aranak’s home city, the mace was dweomered to cast minor image and mirror image once per day, and darkness three times a day. The dwarves' client also insisted that the icy mace be made to quench normal fires three times a day, in order to intimidate rivals in Muspelheim. The dwarves sold Aranak to their client, a fire giant sorcerer named Helgid. It is from Helgid that Anarak learned a bit of magic - he’s a 2nd level sorcerer himself with the still and silent spell feats, and casts spells appropriately. Anarak was killed in a battle with members of the Fated faction and taken as a trophy. Later on, he was sold as part of a really good deal on a tremendous amount of pipeweed, and he now hangs on the wall of the small, burrow-like living room of a neutral evil halfling merchant in Sigil’s Market Ward above his tobaccoist shop. The halfling was killed in an expedition to the Abyssal layer of Sulfanorum of the Thousand Smokes, and his home has come to be inhabited by a pair of witchknifes (see MMIII) who have yet to touch Anarak, and therefore he is not able to communicate with them. Caster Level: 11th; Prerequisites: Craft Magic Arms and Armor and darkness, mirror image, minor image, and quench normal fires. Cost: 55,012 gp After the Faction War, Aranak was discovered by and eventually joined the Seeker faction, and with the aid of former Believers of the Source was reforged into something more like a humanoid, a golem-like creature that came to be destroyed by Sodkillers, only to be reincarnated as a human wizard still calling himself Aranak, the Living Mace. This new Aranak considers himself to be a force for justice, and believes the test that will prepare him ultimately for godhood is to protect the weak against evil magicians. He wanders the plane, opposing chaos and evil wherever he goes.
#7 ORC_Paradox Sep 25, 2005 9:33:44	http://boards1.wizards.com/showthread.php?t=508286 Final round