Chapter #1136
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+ THE ADVENTURERS +
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+ Epic VI +
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+ Many of the locations, non-player characters, spells, and other +
+ terms used in these stories are the property of Wizards of the Coast +
+ which has in no way endorsed or authorized their use. Any such +
+ property contained within these stories are not representative of +
+ Wizards of the Coast in any fashion. +
+ The player characters depicted in these stories are copyright +
+ 1991-2024 by Thomas A. Miller. Any resemblance to any persons +
+ or characters either real or fictional is utterly coincidental. +
+ Copying and/or distribution of these stories is permissible under +
+ the sole condition that no money is made in the process. In that +
+ case, I hope you enjoy them! +
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+ Kronos ancient lich wizard +
+ Neera 12th level female human wizard (sage/astrologer) +
+ Parekh 18th level female human wizard, innovator +
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+ Date: 6/9/586 C.Y. (Common Year) +
+ Time: morning +
+ Place: the Brass Hills, within the Bright Desert +
+ Climate: hot and dry +
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+ "Preemptive action is the only action here." +
+ - Segen, from _World War Z_ +
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MCXXXVI. Deductions and Targets
Days after she visited (and ultimately enlisted the help of) the two
individuals she chose to design and properly build a fortress, Parekh has
regrouped with Neera and Kronos. Their goal is to discuss the different
lost cities, tombs, ruins, and other sites that lie beneath the sands of
the Bright Desert.
Parekh: ...so we're agreed on the overall goal here?
Kronos: (nods) Find the Scorpion Crown. Secondary objectives include
locating and unearthing anything we can use to aid in our consolidation
of power here: gold, magical items, lore...and so on.
Neera: Belphanior was right about one thing. The most abundant resource
in this wasteland is going to be the vast wealth of long-dead Sulm.
Kronos: I would posit that far greater treasures lie beneath the sands
than mere coin.
Neera: Oh, absolutely. Anything we find will have some sort of value.
Parekh: Let's revisit the most promising possibilities. Neera, I believe
you've done some preliminary research already?
Neera: I have. The most likely resting place of the Scorpion Crown, in
my opinion, would be the ruins of Emperor Shattados' royal palace. It's
most likely that he was there when the curse was invoked, and it would
make little sense for him to leave, or to relocate his dwelling place.
Given the five major possibilities, this is the only one whose exact
location we do NOT know.
Kronos: Yet.
Parekh: What of the other four sites?
Neera: In the southern region of the Unath uplands lie the ruins of Utaa,
former capital of the kingdom of Sulm before it became a wasteland. It
will be a daunting task to excavate and explore due to its sheer size,
as it was supposedly a sprawling city, but it's another likely location
of the crown.
Parekh: I'm going to ask the obvious question here...is there any chance
that the emperor's palace actually lies _within_ the buried city of Utaa?
I don't see why a ruler would build his palace anywhere else.
Neera: That's the big mystery...and one that I've been unable to solve
with any of the scarce lore I've found in Greyhawk's libraries, or in
the recovered knowledge from Rary's lair.
To be sure, the notes from the self-exiled archmage - dozens of scrolls
containing everything he had learned, both before and after his betrayal
in Greyhawk - had proven the single most valuable source of information
for Neera's research. In some areas, she'd been able to validate Rary's
findings against lore from elsewhere; in other areas, the slain wizard had
been well ahead of the game. Much of what Neera brought to the planning
here today was due to the material found within Rary's stronghold.
Kronos: (thoughtfully) Could the palace and the capital city be one and
the same...could five major possibilities might actually be four?
Parekh: I wouldn't discount it. More research will no doubt be necessary
on this matter.
Neera: (nods) Efforts continue.
Parekh: What else? Belphanior previously mentioned some tombs, and also
a temple?
Neera: The former is an ancient burial ground sited in the foothills of
the Abbor-Alz...the Necropolis of Unaagh. Legends hold that it was once
a majestic series of underground mausoleums, of extensive reach and said
to hold numerous tombs - of both royalty and commonfolk. Based on what
the desert-folk say, two things are certain to await in the necropolis'
countless halls and chambers: vast wealth, and equally-vast number of
the dead...some of whom may not be fully at rest. (to Kronos) Have you
any thoughts on this?
Kronos: Aside from it not being a likely location of the crown, as the
one who wore the crown was very much alive at the time of the curse's
invocation?
Neera: My thoughts exactly.
Kronos: I find myself wondering if those within might have knowledge that
could help lead us to the crown.
Parekh: Interesting. Assuming some of those dead don't rest easy, would
they speak with you?
Kronos: I could...compel them.
Neera: Either way - whether we look for the crown there, or just for
useful information - it's sure to be a dangerous and time-consuming
effort.
Parekh: What about the temple?
Neera: The remnants of Darkbridge Temple, rumored to have once been a
center of worship for ancient Sulm's dark gods. It's surely evil and
may be tied to disappearances from local tribes, but unlike Belphanior,
I don't believe it to be populated by undead. My guess would be more
of some dark evil, or a curse, or both. Like the necropolis, this
temple is not - in my opinion - a likely place to contain the Scorpion
Crown. And neither are the smaller, little-mentioned ruins near the
Kolum Oasis. It would be a different matter if Emperor Shattados had
suffered a rebellion, or uprising, or some other internal strife before
the calamity that befell his kingdom. But no records anywhere mention
such events, so I strongly doubt they happened.
Parekh: Your reasoning makes sense.
Neera: By the same token, some of the other locations we've discussed
before can likely be ruled out. The Pits of Azak-Kil and the abandoned
dwarven city nearby might be full of undead, but they probably aren't
guarding the Scorpion Crown. The mines far to the east of those pits
are even less likely to hold the thing. And the Plain of Spears, while
it likely contains both broken and intact weapons and such from a great
battle of the past, seems an odd resting place for the former empire's
most powerful artifact.
Kronos: And so your contention is that the crown most likely lies within
either Shattados' palace, or the ruins of the capital city of Utaa...
which may be the same general location?
Neera: (nods) I believe we'll have the best chance of success if we
focus our search efforts in those two places. Or perhaps it's actually
one single place, if the palace is indeed within the capital city.
Parekh: And assuming we find the Scorpion Crown, how can it be destroyed
once and for all?
Neera: On that front, I've got some good news. Rary's notes had nothing
on this subject - he seemed entirely focused on bending the crown and
the monsters of the desert to his will...and perhaps then others, beyond
the desert. However, I think he kind of missed the point, based on some
other lore I found in Greyhawk's libraries, after many long hours of
research. While there's strong evidence that one who wears the Scorpion
Crown gains great powers to command others...aside from the wearer and
all who he commands turning into monsters, it seems quite likely that
the artifact won't function outside of the Bright Desert.
Kronos: Interesting. What is your reasoning for that assertion?
Neera: The crown was forged for Sulm, by Sulm. Its power is tied to the
region.
Parekh: Maybe if we simply carry it outside of Sulm - err, the Bright
Desert - then it will lose its power.
Neera: Perhaps, but the region will still be a wasteland, and its people
horrific monsters. However, I was able to find a reference to it being
originally forged in the Hellfurnaces, before being enchanted by a dark
god. The most likely way to destroy it is to return it to whence it was
initially made.
Parekh: Drop it in an active volcano?
Kronos: (vaguely recalling some old tale or another that had a similar
concept) That seems somewhat familiar.
Parekh: And it's possible. Not easy, but definitely possible. If it
was me doing the planning, I'd simply fly over the Hellfurnaces and then
drop the thing into one. (she frowns) I supposed we can worry about
methods when the time comes.
Neera: If. If the time comes. We still have to find the crown.
Kronos: It is my intention to discuss all of this with the sorceress in
the tower, at the next available opportunity. (he does some mental
calculations) Which will be thirty-nine days from now, on the twelfth
day of Reaping, using the calendar most common in the Flanaess.
Parekh: Damn, that's a long time to wait to possibly get an answer.
Kronos: (blankly) Perhaps to some, but time is relative. No matter.
In the meantime, I will consider anything else we can do to learn more
about the crown, its possible resting place, its bearer, and anything
else of use.
Neera: (regards the lich) You want to visit the necropolis, don't you?
Kronos: Very much so.
next: Dexitheseus and Lord Marcus build some military strength
map: http://www.peldor.com/world/atlas/bright_desert.jpg
www: http://www.peldor.com/download.html
homepage: http://www.peldor.com/
email: tmiller@peldor.com
released: 2/9/2024
notes: There was a lot to unpack here, just to get all the various
background material lined up to write this one. I had to review past
episodes to recap the buried places in the desert, and to integrate any
information that Shemeya might potentially provide, the next time she's
accessible.
For now, I'll frame each potential side quest, one episode at a time.
For example, the next episode will set the stage for army-building, the
one after that will address a supply chain, and so on. Don't worry
though - there will be people venturing into dungeons and tombs by the
early 1140s.
On an out-of-band note...this is the first episode I actually wrote
in 2024. I may have been too ambitious with starting the Adventurers
machine back up at this time; the stress from work is as bad as it's
ever been, and is affecting me in a negative way, which impacts how well
and how often I write new Adventurers material. But, you might inquire,
what exactly is so horribly wrong? I'm glad you asked! Let me explain
further and share my pain. For over three decades, during which I have
worked hard and risen steadily through the ranks, I've also watched the
percentage of inferior workers in my workplace gradually increase. In
1994, they were few and far-between, couldn't do too much harm, and were
largely irrelevant. In 2004, there were more of them but they tended to
get pushed aside most of the time they tried to do something incorrectly
or inefficiently. By 2014 I had started to worry that such people were
now making up a high enough percentage of the workforce to one day take
over; they were all over the place, doing things that caused more work
for everyone else, and yet they seldom got dealt with.
And now in 2024, I think that the stupid people and bad workers have
actually passed the point of critical mass. The seesaw has flipped and
the fuel tank is now over 50% polluted. The majority, and particularly
some at the high levels of leadership, are either clueless, have given
up, or are just plain incompetent - and nothing is being done about it.
Trust me when I say that I know what I'm talking about; if I wanted, I
could dredge up dozens of examples with solid evidence. Hell, I served
on the senior leadership team in an intermittent role for half of 2023,
and I got an up close and personal look at all of it...strategic plans
that don't really mean anything, problems identified by the middle and
lower layers which never get solved, complete lack of prioritization
for the most critical efforts, and through all that, an ever-increasing
amount of new and challenging work while the staffing remains the same.
No one - all the way up to the top - ever says "no" to anything. Many
of these top executives only stay a year, if even that. So I don't see
any way this ship doesn't eventually sink. The only question is whether
I'll still be on it, trying in vain to help with the efforts to bail out
the incoming water without big enough buckets...or whether I'll have
taken a lifeboat and headed away on a different course, away from the
impending disaster.
My gosh, I make it sound so easy. But it isn't. The problem is that
I lead multiple teams, totaling dozens of good people. Part of why I've
stayed this long is to try and help them - and for the last ten years,
I've actually done a hell of a lot for them. But I can't go on forever
given the stress, and so I'm going to predict that (unless things take
a massive turn for the better really soon, or at least someone promises
that they'll try to make that happen) I will be a retiree before 2025.
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next chapter (#1137)