The Obelisk of Time
Forty years ago, a black obelisk was excavated from a ruined section of Modron. Practitioners of the Dark Arts present at the excavation were immediately drawn to the dark stone, and one of them moved forward to place his hands upon it, immediately entering into a trance. After a moment, he began crying out prophesies (known after as the Prophesies of Rekysis) and promptly collapsed to the ground, his eyes open, staring, and completely empty of intelligence. The fate of Rekysis is unknown, but his prophesies all proved to be true, and the Obelisk was transported to the City State.
Today, it is rumored the Obelisk is kept in chamber beneath the Overlord's palace, where it's secrets are plumbed by Llewllyn the Blue and his coterie. He is rumored to have uncovered records indicating that the Obelisk was originally recovered from the ruins of Sotur, and may have been ancient even in the time of that fabled, fallen empire. Whether the obelisk is related to the Overlord's recent military successes is anyone's guess.
In appearance, the obelisk is eleven feet tall, dull black stone, and carved with as yet indecipherable runes and pictograms.
A Magic-User or Cleric of 2nd level or higher may enter a trance and ask questions or gain visions from the spirits of the past (as per Speak with Dead) or the spirits of the future (as per Commune). Each question answered causes 1d6 points of mental damage to the medium using the obelisk, and anyone damaged past 0hp is permanently comatose, their mind ruined, and will waste away and die without constant care and forced feeding. Anyone of 1st level attempting to use the obelisk will suffer immediate mind obliteration.
this post gave me much joy! you used a picture of a stele which reminded me of my days when I used to study archeology...
ReplyDeleteVery cool Al! What damage does it do if it falls over on you? ;)
ReplyDeleteGreat write up Al. Any idea where it came from and why it was made?
ReplyDelete@squidman - Nice to meet another archeology student - I majored in it at USF!
ReplyDelete@jay - Instant death, same as any other vending machine;)
@tim - that's left for DMs to decide! mine was captured and brought out of the deep south by the Markab as a trophy, and then taken from them by the Orichalans.
awesome! i'm yoinking this immediately for my campaign. but IMC it will be discovered by the pcs
ReplyDeleteYou are far too kind in how easy it is to not be slain outright by this device.
ReplyDeleteI'd probably force a saving throw to ask the right question. Oh sure, you may think you know what you want to ask, but when your mind is supercharged with the thoughts of the ancients, is your question really so important?
And I'd throw on a saving throw to let go. Sure, its eating your mind away, but there are so many things that you have to know!
And if I wanted to be a big bastard about it, I wouldn't tell the player exactly how many points of mental damage he's suffered thus far.
Cool ideas, Joe! Cruel...but cool;)
ReplyDeleteInstalling Vista into my computer at work produced exactly the same results. Uncanny.
ReplyDelete