The Drow War Book Two. The Dying Of - RoseRed

The Soul-Stones
As the world of Ashfar has no magical means for
anyone to return from the dead (with the exceptions
of the Host and the Starborn), people are constantly
seeking for ways to extend life and cheat death. The
wizards of the Myrrik created the soul-stones as
their answer to the problem. It was a desperate, last
minute solution but may yet prove to have saved one
of the most evil civilisations ever known.
A soul-stone is around the size of an ostrich egg,
green in colour, faintly translucent and uncomfortably
warm to the touch. A band of runes runs round the
middle. These magical glyphs identify the Myrrik
whose soul is housed in the stone. The eggs must be
prepared for one individual. Only the person named
on the egg may use it as a storage receptacle for his
soul.
The stones have the power to preserve souls. When
a spellcaster uses magic jar to move his soul into the
stone, the time limit on the spell is suspended. The
soul can remain within the stone indefinitely. Even
if the body dies, the soul is not compelled to leave
the egg.
A soul within a soul-stone can sense and attack life
forms that come within range, exactly as described
in the magic jar spell. In addition, if the soul-stone
is installed into an Animus Operative (see above),
the soul can see and hear what the Operative sees
and hears, allowing it to choose the target it wishes
to possess with much more precision.
Spells prepared (4/5/5/5/5/4/2/1, save DC 15 + spell
level): 0 th – detect magic, light, message, read magic;
1 st – cause fear, comprehend languages, disguise
self, obscuring mist, shield; 2 nd – alter self, false life,
fox’s cunning, ghoul touch, invisibility; 3 rd – blink,
nondetection, suggestion, tongues, water breathing;
4 th – animate dead, dimension door, fear, greater
invisibility, scrying; 5 th – contact other plane, dominate
person, magic jar (cast), symbol of pain; 6 th – circle of
death, true seeing; 7 th – finger of death.
Attempting to possess a body is a full-round action. It
is blocked by protection from evil or a similar ward.
The Myrrik wizard possesses the body and forces the
creature’s soul into the stone egg from whence it came
unless the subject succeeds on a Will saving throw (DC
21). Failure to take over the host leaves the Myrrik
life force in the stone egg. The target automatically
succeeds on further saving throws if the same Myrrik
wizard attempts to possess its body again.
If the Myrrik is successful, its life force occupies the
host body and the host’s life force is imprisoned in the
stone egg. The Myrrik wizard retains its Intelligence,
Wisdom, Charisma, level, class, base attack bonus, base
save bonuses, alignment and mental abilities. It also
brings with it any spells that it had prepared. The body
retains its Strength, Dexterity, Constitution, hit points,
natural abilities and automatic abilities. A body with
extra limbs does not allow the Myrrik to make more
attacks (or more advantageous two-weapon attacks)
than normal. It cannot choose to activate the body’s
extraordinary or supernatural abilities. The creature’s
spells and spell-like abilities do not stay with the body.
The Workbenches: Nothing on the benches is of value.
A Search check (DC 30) detects a tiny piece of crooked
silver wire bent into a strangely regular pattern. This
is the key to the lock bypass that disables the crushing
wall trap at Location 5.
Increasing the Challenge
If the Player Characters are already higher than 14 th
level by this stage, the Games Master should introduce
a second Animus Operative but should not have it attack
at the same time as the first. The second Operative waits
inside the sealed inner sanctuary.
4. The Inner Sanctuary
This circular room has a single pillar in the centre.
Its sides are honeycombed with hexagonal hollows.
In each one, a green stone egg rests on some kind of
spongy substance. A circle, marked with mystical signs
and words in an arcane script, surrounds the pillar on
the floor beneath.
A Spellcraft skill check (DC 18) identifies the circle as
some permanent variant of a magic circle of protection
against evil, with the protection turned inward in order
to confine what is placed inside. The Myrrik were
distrustful of their brethren and wanted to make sure
that when the five chief souls were free and came to free
the others, they would not be attacked and possessed.
They built the confinement circle in order to keep the
495 other souls securely within their eggs until there
were enough bodies for all.
The circle is effectively a magic item, whose creator
was 13 th caster level. Any character foolish enough
to step over the circle without a suitable ward (such
as protection from evil) is immediately exposed to
4d6 possession attempts from the congeries of souls.
Ibon Presno Gonzalez (order #73006) 8
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