Placing GH legends in chronology

 From: Mark Barazzuol [markb@intergate.bc.ca]

Sent: Friday, November 06, 1998 11 :36 AM

To: 'greyhawk@MPGN.COM'

Subject: RE: [GREYHAWK] - Placing GH legends in chronology

I am attempting to place several of the historical and legendary figures of Oerth in a chronological order to help determine the possible influence and interaction between them.

I am looking for info on the powerful Mages, Liches and King-Priests ofhistory such as:

Tuerny, Lum, Acerak, Vecna, Tsojcanth, Cuthbert, and any others that come to mind.

Most of the time, all the books give you is "A long time back," or many centuries ago ..

Tuerny had influence over part of the great kingdom if I remember correctly, he may have controlled all of it at one time with his demonic servants. The artifact later turned on it's creator, and well, let's just say the rest is what you see of Tuerny now .. Given that time frame, it would put him in Early Great Kingdom history. Depending on the way you look at it possibly even before the formation of the great kingdom. (If you believe there was civilized life there before ..

Baron Lum was a noble under the rule of one of the Kings of Aerdy. He had - quite a rivalry going between himself and Leuk-o another who discovered one of those technological artifacts. He is definitly one of those early great kingdom personages too. No firm dates given.

Acerak is easily the most ancient of those you listed there. With the POSSIBLE exeception of Tsojcanth, depending on how you look at his time period. We know Acerak's empire was around the Sunndi area, and it existed before that place turned into a swamp. Given that there is no record of it with even early Great Kingdom history I would place them at least 500 years before the migration. Probally even 1000. Also given that Acerack had to be extremely old at that time. I would say the kingdom itself would have had to have lasted at very least 1000 years. (It does take a while for a lich to turn to dust..)

There is so much conflicting stuff on Vecna I can't really tell you .. Probally 1000+ years ago his empire was around. I wouldn't make it too much more than that.. I also don't even know where his empire was supposed to be. Early TSR docs seem to point to the West, somewhere in either the Suel or Oerdian empires. The most current docs point to around the Nyr Dyv area. Go figure ..

To find out how Tsojcanth was you just have to figure, when was the last time Tharizdun was active on Oerth? Given what horrors this guy is responsible for, I'd say he predates any of the history books for any races here. I'd put him 10,000 years back... He seems to be in a time period all to himself.

Cuthbert? No one has even speculated that before.. How old is Celestian? Or Farlanghn? Who knows? It's probally got to take a while to get up to that status. Realistically, I don't see any of the gods with "Medevil" styles to them originating on Oerth at all. Back when they were actually mortal (if they ever were .. ) the time period wouldn't have reached a Medevil point in Oerth culture.. No, probally like Mayheine they migrated. Maybe it wasn't from too far though .. Remember, there's lots of life on some of the other planets in the Oerth solar system. Some like Kule which have had long dead civilizations.. Who knows?

Questions-Answer Memo, w/e 9.27.97 (part 3)

DMD - Vecna for RQ/Greyhawk

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Re: Alternative locations for the Tomb of Horrors

Re: [greytalk] Alternative locations for the Tomb of Horrors
Tuesday, August 4, 2009 7:23 AM
From: "Otto Zequeira"
To: greytalk@canonfire.com, "Otto Zequeira"

Thanks for all the suggestions. Lots of food for thought. Reread my copy of "Vecna: Hand of the Revenant", Thor. Connections between Acererak and Vecna should be explored. Need to follow up on your suggestions for Darkbridge Temple and the Necropolis of Unnagh [sp], Creighton. Nice write-up, Scott.

I am considering a combination of legend lore and commune spells to lay down the clues for the search for the Tomb. Commune spells are interesting in that the contacted entity can color responses.

Here is the link again at Canonfire for some of the suggestions that were mentioned there:

http://www.canonfire.com/cfhtml/modules.php?name=Forums&file=viewtopic&t=3792

Mind if I post some of the recent suggestions there for cross-fertilization?

Otto
Dirt from Skull City and dust of demi-lich make great cross-fertilization.

--- On Tue, 7/28/09, Scott wrote:

> From: Scott
> Subject: [greytalk] RE: Alternative locations for the Tomb of Horrors
> To: greytalk@canonfire.com
> Date: Tuesday, July 28, 2009, 4:55 PM
>
> Hi all,
>
> In case this helps, here's what I wrote about Acererak for
> my South Province campaign:
>
> It is common knowledge that "Acererak the Devourer" is a
> name passed down in legend. A name to be feared and
> spoken in the strongest curses.
>
> It is uncommon knowledge that Acererak was once a terrible
> archmage who ruled a kingdom where the County of Sunndi
> stands today. It is rumored that his tomb still
> exists.
>
> It is rare knowledge that Acererak ruled an empire nearly
> 1,000 years ago. He warred with Queen Ehlissa, seeking
> to expand his domain. He was vassal to Orcus, the
> demon lord, and was rewarded for his efforts with
> undeath. He lies in a tomb of his own devising
> somewhere in the Great Swamp, waiting to serve his master
> once more.
>
> It is very rare knowledge that Acererak's empire was
> peopled by Ur-Flan, undead, and monsters of his own
> creation, and that it stretched through modern-day Medegia
> as well. Now he is the lord of all liches, though he
> has not called a coven of liches for 500 years. As his
> body crumbles, his spirit is free to roam the Oerth once
> more. In this form he has manipulated events in the
> Great Kingdom over the last 25 years.
>
> ~Scott "-enkainen" Casper
>
> Yak-Men use a coven of liches when they need new bone
> scroll cases...

Re: Alternative locations for the Tomb of Horrors

Re: [greytalk] Alternative locations for the Tomb of Horrors
Monday, August 17, 2009 8:12 PM
From: "Chris Anderson"
To: "Thor Thunderer"
Cc:
greytalk@canonfire.com

I may very well have missed something published... how do we know that Acererak was one of Vecna's generals? And have we definitively pinpointed when he turned lich?

Also, where did the information about Acererak's early life come from?



With regards to Acererak putting down Kas's coup attempt... I actually played through the rebellion in my campaign. There, it was a complete surprise to Vecna, since his focus was entirely on putting down the Oeridian incursions into his territory.

Kas had no significant plan or organization ready to revolt: such would not be able to exist for long in the informer-ridden court that Vecna created. He also couldn't rely on his army commanders to attack Vecna, either, since Vecna had this habit of mind-controlling his minions... not Kas, since he was trusted and controlled through his Sword. But everyone else.

Instead, it was literally an impulsive act ... Kas found himself entirely alone with Vecna, who was exhausted from a massive sorcery that had just destroyed a largish portion of one of the Oeridian armies. Vecna was unprepared and weakened, Kas was at his strongest, and had recently dominated the Sword.

I was really pleased at how closely the game actually followed "reality".

-- Chris


On Mon, Aug 17, 2009 at 4:51 PM, Thor Thunderer wrote:

> Also, I can't imagine Vecna or Acererak sharing power
> in the Empire. Seems to me that any truce between them
> would last only long enough until one had an opening at the
> other.

My feeling is that Acererak didn't care at all about worldly power. He's referred to as a recluse quite often. Since we know he was one of Vecna's generals, I could see him easily ruling a region in Vecna's name, as long as he could be left to his studies and relay the actual business of ruling to minions, while reaping the benefits.

> Of course, it's quite possible that other sorcerors
> stepped up to try to grab power after Vecna died ...

It's almost certain that would be the case. Vecna's minions universally seem dedicated to the proposition that power is good. :)

> Also, in my campaign, Vecna routinely terrorized and hunted
> down anyone with any shred of magical ability. He was very
> aware of the need to stamp out any rivals. If Acererak had
> shown any hint of his existence during this period, he would
> have been instantly attacked and most likely slain.

Thing is, we know that Acererak's mother was slaughtered because of his power when he was young anyway, so, that kind of fits... even if you disregard the accounts that Acererak was one of Vecna's generals, and loyal enough to his benefactor to rescue him from certain doom.

> So, personally, I would not tie Acererak to the Spidered
> Throne. I haven't really thought about Acererak during
> this period, but my first thoughts are that he's
> entirely turned inwards, dealing with his conversion to
> lichdom and not really aware of what's going on
> "outside".

By the end of Vecna's reign, I suspect that's certainly the case... or else, from the other accounts, he'd have probably helped put down Kaz's mutiny early on.

TJB

Re: The Isles of Woe

Subject: Re: [GREYTALK] The Isles of Woe
Date: Mon, 21 Jun 1999 21:35:46 -0400
From: "d.k. tetreault"
Reply-To: The GREYtalk Discussion List

On Mon, 21 Jun 1999, Scott Casper wrote:

> Denis "Maldin" Treteault wrote us a lovely story about the Isles of Woe this morning.

Why, thank you. ;-)

> It is quite clear that both the Isles,

For those not on the "other" GH list, my post was in reply to a query for information on the subject from Sir Clarence, and not spontaneous.

> and Keldreth's safety, are important to him.

Not really. ;-) I just used Roger's mention of Keldreth in GH:TAB as a way to poke a little fun at all the flamewars that Kel seems to be invariably embroiled in. ;-)

> Why does it necessarily follow that Yagrax couldn't have constructed something that led to the destruction of his kingdom? This seems entirely consistent with how powerful magic works, as anyone who's had their flesh or clay golems turn on them can attest.

The 1st Edition DMG states clearly that Yagrax "discovered" the tome, and hence it existed prior to that time. I was just searching for a story-telling way to say it, rather than "the DMG says....bla bla". I DO agree with you that arcane creations do get away from their creators in a variety of possible ways... its just not the case in this example. As a wizard himself, perhaps Maldin "chooses" to believe that this almost never happens. ;-) [Yes... Maldin has had "accidents" before! ;-)]

> And when will you reveal your reasoning for this? Do you assume Vecna's tower must be further west to be closer to Tovag-Baragu (sp?)? Perhaps you underestimate the size of Vecna's empire.

Ah, well.... That would not be me. Tovag was a tool he used in Vecna Lives, but as far as I am concerned he has no birthright to or natural affinity with Tovag. Its my own personal belief (from the majority of info available from Vecna Lives) that his empire was centered in, and should be limited to, the Sheldomar Valley. Your mileage may vary. And please...people DON'T have to point out that all the info can be taken different ways depending on which conflicting lines you choose to believe. One thing IS certain.... there is nothing (other than GH:TAB) that even suggests Vecna had ANY relationship to the Isles of Woe.

As for the line about "other research", I had a two-fold purpose. One was to poke a little fun at the numerous lively discussions we've all had in the past about Vecna's details. The other is something that I (Denis) REALLY can't reveal just at this time because of other promises. But stay tuned! Suffice it to say that some mysteries will be resolved once and for all. ;-) Ok... I'm teasing just a bit. ;-)

> You also curiously failed to mention that the Isle of Woe sank because it lacked proper canals...

Strange, that. ;-) Don't know HOW that could have happened.

> Yak-Men -- building the canals to a better future.

Everyone knows that if the Yakmen were to be given stewardship of the canals, they would quickly fill them up with yakturds.

Re: The Haughtiness of Elves [LONG]

Date: Fri, 3 Dec 1999 15:12:56 -0800
From: Chris Anderson
Subject: Re: The Haughtiness of Elves [LONG]

One good example deserves another... here's the attitudes from my campaign. Note: I do not consider elves to be evil either, and I use a modified Birthright Elf for the dominant strain in Celene. I also use the "Vecna destroyed the Elven Cities" concept from Tamerlain's timeline.

--
Chris Anderson
The Gravediggers Campaign
http://caa.invite.net/ADnD/default.htm

You're an Elf. First-born of the world. Your ancestors were here when the Dragons and Titans battled for dominance. In times more ancient than memory, your predecessors fought to make the Flanaess safe for all Elves, and in doing so, for all civilized peoples.

You're 300 years old. Barely into your adult years. In your great-grandparent's time (over 1500 years ago) the Flanaess was the cradle of Elven civilization, with glittering cities scattered across the continent, and enjoying a long period of peace and prosperity. The hateful Drow had been put down long before in the Chaos Wars, and the many other Good races in the Flanaess enjoyed the fruits of the Elven civilization. In this time, Celene was a rather rural, backwards place of great natural beauty, but little culture or learning. Of no comparison to the great cities of the Elves.

Then came Vecna.

Originally tutored by the Elves in the Arts, this hateful human had turned on his benefactors and warred against the People. As powerful as Elven Magic was, it could not withstand the viciousness and raw aptitude that Vecna brought to the Arts. He delved into areas which no Elven Mage of Power would dare. He bought Power with unspeakable acts, and made pacts with Forces that should never be thought of or named, much less summoned and bargained with.

City after City fell. Cities which had taken millenia of effort by hundreds or thousands of Elves -- each one designed to be more beautiful and grand than any other. Ground to dust under the unrelenting force of Vecna's power. Treasures which had taken millenia to create were destroyed in moments by savages too barbaric to even understand what they were destroying. Children who had known nothing but joy and delight for all of their lives were raped and tortured by Vecna's soldiers and then sold into slavery and abuse for the price of a loaf of bread.

It went on and on. Every Elven city or nation who dared to oppose Vecna, to avenge themselves, were ground into dust. No Elven House or family in all the Flanaess was unaffected, save for the unspeakable Drow.

And Celene. The Elves of Celene had withdrawn into the fastnesses of their forest and hidden from the might of Vecna. No challenge did they offer, no vengeance did they take. They were fugitives in their own land. At first this was considered a treasonous act by the other Kingdoms of the Elves -- cowardice in the extreme. Yet in the end, Celene survived and the others did not. Across the Flanaess, the only Elves who survived were those who did not go openly into battle, or who fled battle to hide.

Vecna eventually passed. During the same time, came the rampaging Suloise.
Their wandering Houses did not match the power of Vecna, but the Elves were broken and wandering as well. The Suloise killed and destroyed what they found, and the Elves hid again. Only Celene maintained its borders -- militantly watched this time. When the Twin Cataclysm's flared, most Elves heaved a sigh of relief that one more threat had been eliminated. Celene watched and waited.

The Oeridians came, and this time the Elves of the Flanaess were forced to treat with them. With humans. The same race which had caused so much woe. Thankfully, the Oeridians proved to be much more reasonable than the Suloise. The Kingdom of Aerdy was born, and slowly the Elves slipped back from their dens and hiding places to form small communities and mix with the humans.

Celene did not. They had no desire to mix with humans, whether or not they were better or worse than Vecna or the Suloise. If a Vecna could happen once, it could happen again. Humans were not to be trusted or mixed with. Certainly they were never to be allowed in Celene.

Time passed, and a younger generation came to power. They had been raised on the tales of Vecna and seen the effects on their families. Yet at the same time, they had seen for themselves humans living in peace with Elves and other demi-humans in other areas of the Flanaess. Their feelings were mixed. Most felt that humans were not to be trusted or mixed with. A minority felt that they should be exterminated. Another minority thought that Celene should deal with the humans in trade and politics. They were few, though.

More time passed, and the second generation past Vecna came of age. The Hateful Wars occurred. If humans did not help with the threat of the Pomarj, at least they did not fight on the side of the Goblinoids. Again Celene defended it's borders, and again the foe was thrown back. To the West, the Ulek States were rising and were providing an object lesson in Elven and Human accord. Tales of High Folk filtered in, where humans and Elves lived peacefully together.

Yet there were those who still lived that had seen the horror of Vecna personally. And their children who had heard the tales of Vecna and seen the Suloise. Celene was the last precious jewel of Elven civilization left in the Flanaess. It would be criminal to risk it so soon after it was threatened. And to mix with humans? The destroyers of so many Elven kindred? That would be betrayal in the extreme of all those who died and suffered in the Wars Against Vecna. No! The borders would remain closed.

--------------------------------------------

This is the state of affairs as of 579CY in my campaign. The borders are closed to human entry. However, there is a growing sentiment among some of the population that there should be more contact with humanity -- even to the extent of humans living within the borders. The vast majority of Elves believe in isolation from humanity, and there is a strong vocal minority that agitate towards more extreme measures as an act of vengeance against the race that spawned Vecna.

The Lady Yolande believes that Celene will not be able to isolate itself from the rest of the Flanaess for too much longer, as Elves reckon time. Yet, as Elves reckon time, that may be for several centuries longer. The factions jockey for position of influence in the Elven Court, and "the human question" is not yet settled.

Re: Vecna, Kas, and the powers of his Sword

Date: Thu, 12 Aug 99 13:38PM PDT
From: "Nathanael. D. Wentz" Add To Address Book Add
To: GREYTALK@MITVMA.MIT.EDU
Subject: Re: [GREYTALK] Vecna, Kas, and the powers of his Sword

As for the question of why Vecna didn't have -stoneskin-.... He did, it just didn't help him. This segues into my explanation of what I feel the powers of the Sword to be.

Wounding short sword +6 of sharpness

Sword Primary Abilities: detects magic, good, and invisible creatures in a 10' radius

Sword Extraordinary Abilities: All hits roll on the "critical" chart; sever targeted limb on rolls of 15-20; ignores opponent's armor; heal 1/day

Minor Benign Powers: detect magic, good, and invisible creatures within 60' when held and commanded;

Major Benign Powers: spell turning at will; regenerate x hp/rd (x equals an average of the wielder's constitution and level, divided by 10); haste (self only) at will;

Minor Malevolent Effects: possessor cannot own any other magical weapons;

Major Malevolent Effects: voluntarily touching the blade, scabbard, or hilt of the Sword results in permanent madness; any creature of less than 11 levels or hit dice who attempts to hold the Sword is blasted out of existence; creatures of less than 15 levels or hit dice who attempt to hold the Sword are stricken dead (no saving throw) and, if raised, are permanently insane; simply grasping the Sword requires mental combat with the Sword, failure equals complete submission; creatures of insufficient power (must have more than 100 hit points, STR, CON, and DEX must total more than 50) cannot use any of the extraordinary or major powers, attempting to do so results in immediate death; creatures of sufficient power to wield it must feed the Sword at least one human sacrifice per day or risk the Sword's wrath; If the wielder is killed while holding the Sword, he immediately withers and is reanimated as an undead guardian and slave of the Sword

Prime Powers: Instant death to one creature/month, no saving throw (this is effective against all but the most fantastically powerful creatures, DM's discretion);

Side Effects: The Sword cannot be more than 1" distant from its possessor; all creatures except for the owner that view the Sword must save vs spell or be stricken with fear; creatures killed by the Sword turn to dust;

As is quite obvious, I make artifacts very powerful indeed. It doesn't worry me, because no PC that will ever play in a campaign of mine can even pick up an artifact (especially Greater Artifacts, which list the Sword of Kas among their number) and survive. As such, I don't even know why I have them, except to explain things like the downfall of Vecna.

As for the "rebound" effect that killed Vecna.... I'm not especially fond of it, myself, but Vecna is simply too powerful to be killed in many other ways. I think that Vecna's last spell (as portrayed by me) was powerful enough to destroy himself, even if he had been at full strength and had all of his magical defenses in place. Venca just seemed to be the kind of guy that would focus on killing others before they killed him, instead of utilizing as many protective spells as he could have. Of course, it still wouldn't have saved him. The Sword of Kas would go through -stoneskin- in the same way a white-hot ingot of steel travelling at twice the speed of sound would go through the chest of the Stay-Puft Marshmallow man.

-- Nathanael D. Wentz, whose 29th level ninja/wizard has the hand and eye of Vecna, and wields the Axe of the Dwarvish Lords in his left and the Sword of Kas in his right
______________________________________________

"Et quacunque viam dederit fortuna sequamur."

Re: The final combat of Vecna and Kas

Date: Thu, 12 Aug 99 12:26PM PDT
From: Chris Anderson Add To Address Book Add To Junk Mail Blocker
To: GREYTALK@MITVMA.MIT.EDU
Subject: Re: [GREYTALK] The final combat of Vecna and Kas (my version)

Ok, we've seen the stories. Now, I'm curious -- what powers has everyone given to Kas's sword? I don't have my listing at work, and I don't remember all of the details, but the gist was:

Highly intelligent CE +6 shortsword of Wounding.

Minor powers: regenerate 3hp/rnd, speed (attack 1st, add an additional attack/round), immunity to fire/acid, haste at will

Major Powers: Bestow magic resistance of 75%, Paralyze on touch, raise str/dex/con to 25 for 1 turn 1/day.

Major Effects: alignment changes to that of sword, cause fear in all who see the wielder, holy water burns character, user ages 3-30 years whenever the "raise str/dex/con" power is used.

Anyone else?

--
Chris Anderson


> -----Original Message-----
> From: Nathanael. D. Wentz [mailto:nwentz@mail.saintmail.net]
> Sent: Thursday, August 12, 1999 11:17 AM
> To: GREYTALK@mitvma.mit.edu
> Subject: Re: [GREYTALK] The final combat of Vecna and Kas (my version)
>
>
> Here's my version of the way it happened, in two parts. The first is in
> story form, the second in game terms.
>
> Vecna spun around as the door to his laboratory flew open.
> His gaze met Kas's for a split second, and then the battle was joined. Kas
> hurtled toward Vecna, his arm swinging the grey edge of the Sword forward as
> he closed on his master. Vecna, however, was not idle. Arcane energies
> spat and crackled in a nimbus of green fire about him as he loosed the fastest
> spell he knew.
> It wasn't fast enough. As the bolt of death sprang from Vecna's fingers, Kas
> plunged the Sword into his chest, the length of the blade shimmering with
> the black essence of the Sword's power. Kas, flaming, flew backwards across
> the room as fast as he had crossed it less than a second before. Even as he
> hit the wall behind him, Vecna was working a longer, but more deadly magic.
> Kas raised himself to his feet as Vecna uttered the last syllable of his
> final spell. Kas threw his arm out before him, his blackened fingers still
> clutching his weapon as the blast of magical energy reached him. The Sword
> blossomed with white flames, trying desperately to block the spell's effect.
> Vecna, seeing this, began to cast a spell of protection. Once again, he was
> too late. The sword was not wholly successful, however, as Vecna's power was
> too great for it to counter. The greater part of the spell's effects were
> turned, and even as Kas was blasted into his component atoms by the remnants
> of the spell, the magic rebounded from his blazing weapon, bathing the room
> in pale radiance. Vecna, too, was consumed in the ensuing explosion, a noiseless burst of light that flattened the castle and darkened the sky with
> upthrown debris. His hand and his eye slipped away in the streams of magic,
> and no evidence of the sword's passing was ever found.
>
> Ok, Kas first kicked in Vecna's door. Then he and Vecna rolled for initiative, which resulted in a tie of 1. Kas, wielding a magical sword of
> unrivaled power, had a weapon speed factor of 1, the time required for the
> casting of Vecna's spell, a lethal blaze of energy of his own devising, the
> mysteries of which were lost when he met his doom. Kas made his attack roll
> and scored a critical hit, as one of the powers of the Sword (IMC) is that
> all successful attacks are critical hits. Kas knew he had to kill Vecna
> before the lich could send his magics against him, and so had no time to use
> the spell turning power before. (Another one of the Sword's abilities, as I
> see it.) Kas's strike wounded Vecna grievously, as his blow was augmented by
> magics in the Sword. (Another power of the Sword is that upon the utterance
> of the command word, the next creature hit is instantly slain, no saving
> throw. Obviously, some things are too powerful for the sword to destroy so
> easily. This power is usable 1/month.) Vecna's first spell brought Kas down
> to less than a third of his hit points, and the final spell destroyed him
> completely, leaving nothing but a few teeth, fused together.
> The Sword, however, deflected much of the energy of the spell, which, no
> longer focused into a beam, blew the entire tower to kingdom come. The
> entire combat took less than 15 seconds, but saw the passing of two of the
> darkest villains ever to walk on the face of the oerth.
>
> As for the speed at which Vecna and Kas are operating, I'm assuming that
> both were magically augmented in that department. Kas, however, uses no
> spells or powers, relying the Sword to counter that end of things, while he
> was concentrating on the actual "stabbing to death" bit. Even so, they were
> not enough to survive a battle with Vecna, the most powerful spellcaster in
> recorded history.
>
> -- Nathanael D. Wentz, who admits a liking of flashy and noisy magical battles.

The Head of Vecna

Subject: Re: [GREYTALK] The Head of Vecna
Date: Thu, 17 Feb 2000 16:39:21 -0800
From: Russ Taylor
Reply-To: The GREYtalk Discussion List
To: GREYTALK@MITVMA.MIT.EDU

On 2/17/00 4:07 PM, Bryan Blumklotz (saracen@europa.com) wrote

>
>
> I recently joined a new gaming group in Portland, OR and on the second
> meeting
> I attended someone was describing a particular DM with a nasty sense of
> humor. He
> ran a tournament at a convention, during which, the players were told by a
> "reliable" source where to find the Head of Vecna. Of course the Munchkins
>

[snip]

> When we meet in March I will get the exact details of this romp to
> post up.

That's a fairly famous story, possibly "appropriated" by the person in question. Here ya go:


The Head of Vecna
by Mark F. Steuer

Several members of Group One came up with the idea of luring Group Two into a trap. You remember the Hand of Vecna and the Eye of Vecna that were artifacts in the old D&D world where if you cut off your hand (or your eye) and replaced it with the Hand of Vecna (or the Eye) you'd get new awesome powers? Well, Group One thought up The Head of Vecna.

Group One spread rumors all over the countryside (even paying Bards to spread the word about this artifact rumored to exist nearby). They even went so far as to get a real head and place it under some weak traps to help with the illusion. Unfortunately, they forgot to let ALL the members of their group in on the secret plan (I suspect it was because they didn't want the Druid to get caught and tell the
enemy about this trap of theirs, or maybe because they didn't want him messing with things).

The Druid in group One heard about this new artifact and went off in search of it himself (I believe to help prove himself to the party members...) Well, after much trial and tribulation, he found it; deactivated (or set off) all the traps; and took his "prize" off into the woods for examination. He discovered that it did not radiate magic (a well known trait of artifacts) and smiled gleefully.

I wasn't really worried since he was alone and I knew that there was no way he could CUT HIS OWN HEAD OFF. Alas I was mistaken as the Druid promptly summoned some carnivorous apes and instructed them to use his own scimitar and cut his head off (and of course quickly replacing it with the Head of Vecna...)

Some time later, Group one decided to find the Druid and to check on the trap. They found the headless body (and the two heads) and realized that they had erred in their plan (besides laughing at the character who had played the Druid)... The Head of Vecna still had BOTH eyes! They corrected this mistake and reset their traps and the
Head for it's real intended victims...

Group Two, by this time, had heard of the powerful artifact and decided that it bore investigating since, if true, they could use it to destroy Group One. After much trial and tribulation, they found the resting place of The Head of Vecna! The were particularly impressed with the cunning traps surrounding the site (one almost missed his save against the weakest poison known to man). They recovered the Head and made off to a safe area.

Group Two actually CAME TO BLOWS (several rounds of fighting) against each other argueing over WHO WOULD GET THEIR HEAD CUT OFF! Several greedy players had to be hurt and restrained before it was decided who would be the recipient of the great powers bestowed by the Head... The magician was selected and one of them promptly cut his
head off. As the player was lifting The Head of Vecna to emplace it on it's new body, another argument broke out and they spent several minutes shouting and yelling. Then, finally, they put the Head onto the character.

Well, of course, the Head simply fell off the lifeless body. All members of Group Two began yelling and screaming at each other (and at me) and then, on their own, decided that they had let too much time pass between cutting off the head of a hopeful recipient and put the Head of Vecna onto the body.

SO THEY DID IT AGAIN!... [killing another PC]

In closing, it should be said that I never even cracked a smile as all this was going on. After the second PC was slaughtered, I had to give in (my side was hurting)...

And Group Two blamed ME for all of that...

So let that be a warning to you - don't let your head get cut off unless you really know what you're doing.

Copyright © 1996 Mark F. Steuer

--
Russ Taylor (http://www.cmc.net/~rtaylor/)
CMC Tech Support Manager
"Lord help me, I'm just not that bright." -- Homer