The Sixth Table part III

Continuing the Sixth Table theme, here's 76-77 The Blood Sword of Kral Zoraz. ‘Kral Zoraz’, huh? Looks like some good old flavorful naming, but no hidden meaning as far as I can tell. Maybe I was too quick to assume that Mr. Kuntz had used a lot of wordplay devices with this collection of Artifacts, unless Rob Kuntz had a friend named Karl Razzo or something. Moving right along…here we go with part 3.

The Blood Sword of Kral Zoraz

Disclaimer: The entire series of ‘Supreme Artifacts’ is based upon handwritten notes by Rob Kuntz. I take no credit for the table, title or names of any of these ‘Supreme Artifacts’. Mr. Kuntz’s creation, Table 6 Supreme Artifacts, serves as inspirational material and nothing more. The theme is indeed 'Supreme Artifacts', but individual Referees should feel free to adjust the relative power of any of the items presented here to fit their own campaign's needs.

In the time now known as The Dawn of Man, when the Fae still held sway over this world, there was a grim, bloody era which preceded The Sundering, that chaotic world altering event that would herald The Age of Man. By now, the dispassionate, heedless Fae had been compelled to take notice of Mankind and its ceaseless expansion throughout the Four Corners. The Young Magic of Mankind was spreading like a plague, stifling the natural order of the world, and loosening the very foundations of creation from its bond with Fae Magic.

This was not a period measured by years, decades or even centuries, but an epoch which was an interminable precursor to The Sundering. What would become of Man after The Sundering was not yet determined, but it was certain that the Fae descent into obscurity would be irreversible. In those days, in the now buried nation of Kesh’al, a prominent hero called Zoraz had risen through sheer force of will and determination to the rank of Warlord, or Kral, of the Clans.

Kral Zoraz commanded his advisors to commission a weapon worthy of his lofty station, a sword that, as it turned out, would become more legendary than the man himself. And so, to the far flung Elf Realms of the All-King was brought the plunder and spoils from many a campaign, a ransom in rare minerals and gems, enough to outfit ten armies in finely crafted manmade swords and cuirasses. The All-King refused the offering, and insisted that the Elf Realms would offer a gift to Kral Zoraz, a sword “fit for such a famous leader of Men”.

After many months the newly forged sword was born back to Kesh’al, and into the waiting hands of the Warlord. The Kral increased his army and nation five fold while carrying the Elf sword at his side. As Kesh’al continued to expand its borders, it began to impinge on the very edges of the Elf Realms, and it was only a matter of time before Kral Zoraz began his war with those Fae who had remained outside of the struggles of mortals. Legend tells us that as soon as Man first spilled Fae blood, a terrible curse upon humankind was unleashed in the form of the Hobgoblins, themselves a race of mortal Fae who would rise up and challenge Man in the ages to come. Whether this blood was spilt by the Elf sword is not known, but what happened when that finely crafted sword did fell an Elf is hinted at in the mythology of the time before The Sundering.

The All-King had foreseen the possibility of such a war with Kesh’al, and had placed a dormant Unseelie Spirit within the weapon, one which would awaken if the Elf sword ever tasted Fae blood. What is known is vague, but Kesh’al ultimately failed in its war with the Elves, and it is said that Kral Zoraz was dethroned in a bloody rebellion which led to the eventual collapse of the Clan nation. The sword, which came to be called The Blood Sword of Kral Zoraz, has cropped up from time to time throughout history, but its name and story are little more than the stuff of tall tales and fanciful song.

The Blood Sword of Kral Zoraz is older than any man can say, forged by ancient Fae in the age old bronze technique perfected by their kind before The Sundering. It is a heavy short sword, nearly two and a half feet in length, with a vaguely leaf shaped blade. The blade itself is of exquisite craftsmanship, faintly dark-grey with a green hue to the thick, razor sharp bronze. The hilt and small guard of the sword are of finely carved bone, and a large, heavy, round pommel of bronze tips off the unassuming weapon.

This Sword, +1 has a number of venerable Elf enchantments which might not be apparent at first. The sword acts as +5 for purposes of saving throws or determining whether it can penetrate special defenses. No non-magic force is capable of destroying the sword, and the amount and power of magic required to break the sword is rarely realized in this day and age.

While the sword deals a rather modest 1d6 damage, there is a chance that a special power will be triggered with each damage roll. On a roll of ‘5’ on the d6, the wielder throws an extra d6 for damage, and is healed by one half of the resulting roll on that extra d6 (1, 2 or 3 HP). On a roll of ‘6’ on the d6, the wielder throws two extra d6 for added damage, and is healed by one half that extra amount (1-6 HP). While the extra damage will be rolled against any target, the healing will only function when the extra damage is dealt to living targets.

The sword creates a dim green glow, shedding light in a radius of 10’. Any living being, other than the wielder, within this aura will be unable to heal wounds or damage, magically or naturally. Furthermore, once the sword has slain a target, the aura will visibly intensify for six rounds. During this time, any living being within the 10’ radius will lose 1 HP, and the sword bearer will be healed 1 HP. This life drain takes effect at the end of each of the six rounds, harming both friend and foe. This regenerative aura will never heal more than 1 HP per round for the sword’s wielder, and only functions when there is a living being other than the wielder within 10’.

The Blood Sword of Kral Zoraz was created as a foil to the magic of Man, and its wielder will receive +4 on all saving throws vs. spells, wands, etc. On a natural roll to hit of 18 or higher, the strike of the sword will dampen any magic upon the target, effectively dispelling enchantments and rendering magic items ineffective for 1 full turn. The victim may not use any magic, nor be effected by any magic, including spells meant to help or harm. This magic deadening will not protect the target from any of the Fae powers of the Blood Sword, however.

The sword has no communicative traits or intellect until its dormant spirit is awakened.

Once the Blood Sword strikes a Fae (defined as an Elf, Dryad, Nixie, Centaur, Unicorn, etc; but not those of Goblin blood), it will awaken the sleeping Unseelie Spirit imprisoned in the blade. At this time the weapon will begin a ceaseless thirst for blood, finally revealing its Cursed nature.

Once awake, the Unseelie Spirit will insist on blood, blood and more blood. What the Spirit does not get from the victims of the sword, it will take from the wielder. How the sword controls its owner is determined by the Referee, but it will be difficult if at all possible to remove the sword from its owners white-knuckled grip.

After the Spirirt is awake, any roll to hit which misses its target will cause the wielder 1 damage.

The Spirit will demand three kills per day, and if this thirst is not quenched, it will attempt to control the wielder’s hand. Furthermore, if a full day passes without quenching the sword’s thirst, the wielder will sustain 1 damage per hour, and 3 damage on any roll to hit which misses, until the three kills are made.

In OD&D terms, The Blood Sword of Kral Zoraz looks like this:
Dormant state: non-aligned, 0 Intelligence, 0 Ego, no origin/purpose.
Awake state: chaotic, 10 Intelligence, 12 Ego (total Ego Rating: 26), purpose: described above.

If the awakened sword goes for 9 days with no kills, the Unseelie Spirirt will return to its dormant state.

~Sham, Quixotic Referee

The Sixth Table part II

Continuing the Sixth Table theme, here's 41-44 The Skull Staff of Zaln. I don't see any wordplay device involved with Zaln. This one's off the cuff.

The Skull Staff of Zaln

Disclaimer: The entire series of ‘Supreme Artifacts’ is based upon handwritten notes by Rob Kuntz. I take no credit for the table, title or names of any of these ‘Supreme Artifacts’. Mr. Kuntz’s creation, Table 6 Supreme Artifacts, serves as inspirational material and nothing more. The theme is indeed 'Supreme Artifacts', but individual Referees should feel free to adjust the relative power of any of the items presented here to fit their own campaign's needs.

In the years before The Vast Discord, in the time lost land of Ayr-Avad, the Almighty Zaln ruled from his Tower Indomitable high on Mount Al-Armagt. As far as Zaln could see, and even beyond the horizon and across the Stirring Sands, were the lands of Ayr-Avad, Zaln’s Empire. Time itself was Zaln’s last enemy, the final foe with whom he now struggled with each day and every night, for Zaln was nearing the end of his mortal life. After countless scholars, wizards, oracles and prophets had been put to the spear for their empty promises of turning back the ravages of Time, Zaln had finally found his answer in a sorcerer named Balophaer. Giving over every ounce of his confidence in his nigh desperate state, Zaln entered into Balophaer’s long and arduous arcane rites. Life Everlasting had been the promise, and Life Everlasting had been delivered; but as one might guess, the end only justified the means as far as Balophaer was concerned.

Awakening from his horrific, drug induced nightmarish slumber, Zaln found that the rites had indeed been enacted, but his headless corpse was before him in a pool of darkening blood, prostrate and encompassed by a still smoldering rune-circle of magical power. Zaln’s Regal Sentinels, ready to impale Balophaer at the first sign of treachery, were now bedazzled and unaware of the potent sorcerer’s deviousness. Zaln was certainly immortal and timeless, but his head was mounted atop a carven blood-soaked staff of oak, a staff in the clutches of the vile and contemptuous Balophaer. Balophaer now took on the guise of Zaln, and ruled Ayr-Avad successfully for three score years, until Zaln exacted his revenge in a most cold blooded manner; only befitting given the injustice enacted upon the once mighty Emperor. Ayr-Avad and Mount Al-Armagt are but dim, distant memories now. The Legend of Zaln has been retold and handed down through the generations, and is a somewhat famous fable across the land. Pure mythology, as far as the scholars are concerned.

The Skull Staff of Zaln is an intricately carved, 4’ length of thick, old dark oak, topped by an ancient chipped, cracked and now jawless human skull. This is indeed the age-old skull of the Almighty Zaln. The skull has been covered in layers of pine tar and odd scribbling through the ages, as it’s previous owners have tried to preserve the skull, and also unlock its secrets. The staff will only reveal its minor powers to a Magic User who possesses it, these are listed below:

Charm Person, Charm Monster, Confusion, Guise, Hold Person, Hold Monster. Each minor spell-like power drains one charge from the staff. The staff generates three charges per day, and will never hold more than six charges.

Guise: This power allows the staff holder to magically transform to take on the appearance, mannerisms and vocabulary of a single target whose name is known to the caster. The Guise will be permanent until dispelled by the wielder, or until a new Guise is assumed.

The staff can also be used to invoke the following major powers as the campaign unfolds, with this knowledge unlocked by the player in a method determined by the Referee:

Death Spell, Disintegrate, Geas. Each major spell-like power drains three charges from the staff.

The wielder of The Skull Staff of Zaln is also protected with powerful enchantments which confer a protective magical power called Avoid Harm. Avoid Harm translates in game terms to: AC 4, +2 on all Saving Throws, minus four from all physical damage sustained, minus ten from all magical and elemental damage sustained, and immunity to poison.

The staff becomes powerless and drained of all charges when within sixty feet of Zaln’s remains.

The Almighty Zaln will slowly begin to gain lucidity from beyond the wall of sleep with each passing day once the staff has a new owner. Slowly, his spirit will begin to communicate with the staff wielder. First with dreaming whispers, then waking mental impressions, and finally with actual telepathic messages. Zaln is still, after all, ‘alive’, his spirit shackled to this world by Balophaer’s hoary rites of sorcery. Ultimately, Zaln seeks to join his psyche with his spirit to put an end to the accursed prison into which he was cast so many centuries ago. The mystical curse under which he now lives on may only be broken by joining his skull with his headless skeletal remains through some long forgotten ritual. As soon as Zaln begins to gain lucidity, his headless remains stir and begin to seek out the skull’s location. Eventually, Zaln’s remains will find the skull, and at that time Zaln will attempt to enact the same murderous revenge experienced by Balophaer high atop Mount Al-Armagt, in the Tower Indomitable, all those long, tormented decades ago.

The series of nightmarish events which might culminate in the strangulation or beheading of the staff wielder are to be played out as the Referee sees fit. If the staff wielder is slain, Zaln will make off with the staff, and hide it somewhere away from the light of day, sadly falling into his silent dreaming state once more before he can successfully break the age-old enchantment.

~Sham, Quixotic Referee

The Sixth Table part I

Here‘s a slice of gaming history, dripping with old school homebrew protoplasmic ooze. It is one of the surviving bits of Mr. Rob Kuntz’s notes from his work on the never published Supplement V for D&D (OD&D) titled Kalibruhn. I enjoy the direct connect to the early gaming roots that fragments such as this produce. Furthermore, I can't resist the evocative names of the artifacts contained on this page. The names alone are unquestioningly inspirational:

Sand Cubes of Nomilmon, The Blood Sword of Kral Zoraz, The Green Wand and The Stone Servant of Kalib, The Pillar of Sa-Hazruul.

I love this sort of stuff. What I particularly appreciate is that this list is just that, a list. No actual descriptions are provided. I’m not sure how fleshed out these artifacts would have been in Supplement V: Kalibruhn, or whether the same items have appeared in subsequent works by Rob Kuntz (many available at Pied Piper Publishing), but I’m happy to take this list and play around with it, fleshing out the history and powers of some of these mysterious relics of gaming past.

I can’t quite make out all of the names, but that’s fine…I find it adds to the charm of the original that some of the words are therefore open to my interpretation. For example 02-06 Amulet of the Abhorred (?) Destiny. Or 54-60 The Fruits of Zhethap (?). And even 72-75 The Bemalize (?) Wand. I assume 71 is The Brass Ring of Opening. I’ll just fake it until said item looks or sounds right.

I’ll homebrew a few of these to get the theme going. If I stick with it I will continue with more and eventually detail all three dozen Artifacts.

I know some of the item names upon this list must be anagrams, or other wordplay devices. 16-18 Crown of Ecilam and 25-27 3 Golden Globes of Ecilam are the most obvious and rudimentary examples. Ecilam is simply Malice backwards. A brief overview of the list doesn’t produce any other immediate recognition in the way of reference or inference for me, but perhaps others will chime in with their own observations.

There are likely some campaign inspired items that should have a shared history, with common themes, such as 13-15 Saphire of The Sorcerer Demons and 61 Fire Spear of The Sorcerer Demons. I’ve absolutely no idea what the real history or influence or even original design was for any of these Artifacts, so I will apologize to Rob Kuntz in advance for any rough or unfair treatment of his personal creations found on Table 6 Supreme Artifacts.

Rather than take these on in the order presented, I will pick and choose a few before I commit to all 36, starting with 53 The Unknown Weapon of Nodah. The only possible wordplay device I see here is that Nodah could be unscrambled to form Honda. I don’t see any reason for such a reference, so I’ll ignore that possible anagram. Nodah apparently might mean ‘known’ according to some brief internet research. Perhaps The Unknown Weapon of Known was a bit of wordplay, but any significance that might hold is lost upon me. One particular link led me to a page that included a blurb about The Maharal of Prague, and the legend of his Golem, Yossele. Now properly inspired, here’s the first entry for The Sixth Table.

The Unknown Weapon of Nodah

Disclaimer: The entire series of ‘Supreme Artifacts’ is based upon handwritten notes by Rob Kuntz. I take no credit for the table, title or names of any of these ‘Supreme Artifacts’. Mr. Kuntz’s creation, Table 6 Supreme Artifacts, serves as inspirational material and nothing more. The theme is indeed 'Supreme Artifacts', but individual Referees should feel free to adjust the relative power of any of the items presented here to fit their own campaign's needs.

This secret weapon was constructed and employed by a High Cabal of Ven Vorheesh Priests to oust the conquering Mag’hiim from their lands. A living, walking manlike automaton of clay, this Golem was infused with the wrath of Nodah, the Ven Vorheesh deity. Hidden and protected during the day, and unleashed to wreak havoc during the night, the Unknown Weapon of Nodah proved to be a dangerous means of defense, as it eventually turned upon it’s creators and toppled both temple and shrine in it’s uncontrollable frenzies. Finally deactivated and hidden away, the Golem and its legend was forgotten. The Ven Vorheesh and the Mag’hiim are now but faded writings in the history of man, and the Unknown Weapon of Nodah remains a mystery today.

The Golem can be found in either a deactivated or activated state, at the Referee’s discretion. The Golem is a hardened, solid as stone, fired clay construct in the shape of a man some seven feet tall. When activated it’s eyes open to reveal dimly blue glowing sapphires, and it’s mouth can open or close with a locking, lower hinged jaw fashioned of old bronze, revealing a small recessed niche behind. The entire form of the Golem is chipped and pocked, and covered with black scorch marks. The Golem weighs nearly 2,000 pounds, being a massive, formidable slab of ancient earth. The Golem will, at all times, have one of two ancient Ven Vorheesh words scrawled upon it’s large forehead, Life or Death. The former activates the Golem, and the latter deactivates it. If a small calfskin scroll, containing the master’s name written in blood, is placed within the Golem’s mouth, it will follow very basic commands from that individual. If activated with no such scroll, or by anyone other than it's master, the Golem will enter a destructive rampage until it has successfully slain a random number (1d6 or more) of nonbelievers before deactivating itself once more.

Nodah’s Golem: AC 5, Hit Dice 10, Hit Points 47, Move 6”. Only damaged by +1 or higher magic weapons, and physical attacks always cause minimum damage. Immune to mind influencing magic, fire, electricity, poison, acid and cold. If possible, the Golem automatically rolls successfully when saving versus any magical spell or attack. The Golem attacks once each round causing 3d6 damage. While in combat, the Golem emanates a powerful aura of magic. All living beings within a 40’ radius of the Golem are subjected to a Slow spell. If faced with more than 5 foes, it can unleash gouts of flame from vents in the palms of its 'hands' every third round in lieu of physical attacks. The flames engulf an area in a 10’ radius around the Golem, and burn for 10d6 initially, and one half that on the following round (save vs. Dragon Breath for half damage and no damage on the following round). If the Golem is in melee with the same foe for four consecutive rounds, it will attack that target with a magic gaze beam emanating from it’s glowing sapphire eyes. The target must save vs. Spell at -2 or become Paralyzed for 12 turns.

The Golem, when activated, will only allow its master to approach close enough to open its jaw or write upon its forehead. How this is otherwise accomplished during play is up to the Referee. When deactivated, the Golem will slowly regenerate damage at a rate of 1 Hit Point per day. The Unknown Weapon of Nodah will deactivate whenever it is reduced to 10 or fewer Hit Points, and will not activate once more until it has regenerated at least 30 points of damage (30 days). If the Golem is reduced to zero Hit Points, it will be forever destroyed.

The Unknown Weapon of Nodah obeys it’s commands quite literally, never discerning between friend or foe. Furthermore, there is a chance each turn while it is active that the Golem will enter a frenzied state of destructive vengeance upon all nonbelievers (including its own master). If The Unknown Weapon of Nodah’s master is slain, the Golem will deactivate wherever it stands. The chance for such a rampaging state is left for the Referee to determine, but it is suggested that it begin after a predetermined time of activity (1d6 turns or more), and increase with each subsequent turn of activity. For example, perhaps a cumulative 1% chance per turn beginning after 3 turns. The Golem’s rampages include destruction of inanimate objects and anything that moves until it has slain a random number of nonbelievers and deactivates itself once more. There is also a chance that it will only deactivate once it has slain its blasphemous master. Such an unfortunate turn of events has a chance to occur as determined by the Referee, which should ultimately be increased or decreased based upon the actions of the master.

~Sham, Quixotic Referee