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Hi all, my Age of Worms campaign involves a tie-in of Expedition to the Ruins of Castle Greyhawk (and Return of the Eight by the way). My players are finished with Castle GH now, and are currently exploring Tilagos Island.
The wizard in the group expressed some interest in Maure Castle as he wonders if the Octych (not sure I spell it correctly) discovered in the recesses of Castle GH might be used to open a portal down there. He wonders because:
- they found the name of one of the Maure in the log of one of Zagyg's libraries,
- and because the rogue of the band, a Seeker, discovered that one Eli Tomorast, another Seeker, has developed an interested in Maure Castle...
Do you know if there is a mention of this Octych in the different official levels of Maure Castle ?
Thks for the help.
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I've put the answer to your question below, hidden by spoiler tags...
I've put the answer to your question below, hidden by spoiler tags...
** spoiler omitted **
Many thanks for the tip. I do not have easy access to the source (original module or Dungeon zines) but I own it. I will have a look.
Any speculation about the destinations / encounters involved ?
Are you aware of hints given by a Greyhawk mogol (Kuntz, Mona...) ?
Anyway, thks again Callum.
In their update of Maure Castle for Dungeon Magazine, Jacobs and Mona introduced the idea that the star and octychs (as they now became called) were created by disciples of Slerotin, who were afraid to use Power Magic and thus decided to leave the Oerth and await the future learning of their descendants. This idea was carried through into EttRoG, where a single octych was also made available for discovery. However, the destinations were still left undetailed, as an opening for DMs to create adventures of their own. Given that many centuries have passed since their creation and first use, what might be found by placing an octych in the star is quite open!
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A really cool way of using the Octychs in the campaign could be if say Kyuss manageges to win and the Age of Worms actually comes to pass. Either as a continuation of the AP or as a new campaign altogether the PC's need to hunt down all the Octychs in order to finally defeat Kyuss for good.
The campaign would involve finding the Octychs, traveling to strange places and deadly dungeons. They would be constantly at odds with various factions competing for the Octychs themselves for lots of diffrent reasons some good and some bad.
That would be wicked cool.
Saperlipopette! (French very polite/acceptable curse)
Mmmh after the AP, they will get the attention of so many more powers and factions (after Iggwilv, Iuz, the Circle of Eight, the thieves and Assassin's guilds of Greyhawk, the Seekers to name of few who could be harmful...)! If they manifest any interest in Maure Castle I think the Scarlet Brotherhood at least should attempt something before the end.
Thks for the suggestions above. I definitely need to design something now about the demi-planes... May be I can use the part about Kyuss in Elder Evils and design some epic additional adventure. Anyone knows if this could be relevant (I ordered it on Amazon a few days ago)? Or populate one of the demi-planes with another world (one of the Green Ronin or Necromancer Games campaigns perhaps). Are the Maure Castle levels of Dungeon easy to upscale for an epic party ?
Hello Grodog,
As for the first part of your post above:
I don't know if I will drop the second Octych or not. May be so, and have them sell/transfer guadianship of the first to one of the Circle or Tenser. Then use it to start a new campaign with new adventurers (welcome to Maure Castle...).
Many VIP already appeared in this extended adventure path, not to mention those to come later in the adventure.
As for the suggestions for what is beyond the eight-pointed star:
Thanks for the infos about The Hall of Many Panes, I wondered if I should get it. May be I won't then.
Good adventuring on your side!
One group that might have a propriatory interest in the Octychs also would be the Scarlet Brotherhood, who'd probably see them as the ne plus ultra of Sueloise artifacts -- they were only the last creations of the Suel Power Mages, after all :)
One group that might have a propriatory interest in the Octychs also would be the Scarlet Brotherhood, who'd probably see them as the ne plus ultra of Sueloise artifacts -- they were only the last creations of the Suel Power Mages, after all :)
Yes, one of the possibilities listed above. One of the most interesting to me (I have never pitched them against the Brotherhood so far...)!
How did you tie in return of the 8 with age of worms?
doesnt return have the players rescuing Tenser, and isnt he already around and mentoring various wizards in AoW?
Actually I chose to start Age of Worms before the events of Rot8 (before Tenser is back, that is).
Hence very easy and useful to run this in the middle of the campaign.
Cheers
Chief Creative Officer, Publisher
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Thread necromancy, ftw!
I seem to remember including information about yet another Octych in the Living Greyhawk "Return to the Ghost Tower of Inverness" scenario from the second or third year of the campaign. That adventure (co-written be Creighton Broadhurst, as I recall), was a sort of unofficial third installment of the Absolute Power series.
The "Power" in Absolute Power is a reference to the Power Magic of the Suel, which (in my view) could have been unlocked by collecting the Octychs and untangling the eight adventures they led to.
Thread necromancy, ftw!
I seem to remember including information about yet another Octych in the Living Greyhawk "Return to the Ghost Tower of Inverness" scenario from the second or third year of the campaign. That adventure (co-written be Creighton Broadhurst, as I recall), was a sort of unofficial third installment of the Absolute Power series.
The "Power" in Absolute Power is a reference to the Power Magic of the Suel, which (in my view) could have been unlocked by collecting the Octychs and untangling the eight adventures they led to.
This thread, and its resurrection, have given me lots of great ideas for a metaplot I need to flesh out (involves restoring half of the Sea of Dust; the other half has already been restored). So thanks much!
...the Living Greyhawk "Return to the Ghost Tower of Inverness" scenario from the second or third year of the campaign...
where can this scenario be found?
...the Living Greyhawk "Return to the Ghost Tower of Inverness" scenario from the second or third year of the campaign...where can this scenario be found?IIRC, it was available during the LG campaign, but it is no longer available now.
Allan.
I never really understood the whole "scenarios never available to the general public" thing, and now that LG is no longer around (to my knowledge), it bugs me to be reminded this appears to still be the case. [/rant]
I never really understood the whole "scenarios never available to the general public" thing, and now that LG is no longer around (to my knowledge), it bugs me to be reminded this appears to still be the case. [/rant]
yeah, and it bugs me that we've been given lots of tantalizing tidbits of information about the maure storyline, yet the adventure may never be finished and the story may never be fully told.[/rant]
:-(
I never really understood the whole "scenarios never available to the general public" thing, and now that LG is no longer around (to my knowledge), it bugs me to be reminded this appears to still be the case. [/rant]yeah, and it bugs me that we've been given lots of tantalizing tidbits of information about the maure storyline, yet the adventure may never be finished and the story may never be fully told.[/rant]
:-(
Unless you happen to be, or know, a card carrying and herald level RPGA member who has got his paws on said module (CORS3-03 Return to the Ghost Tower of Inverness).
There was in fact two versions of the same module : one for high levels, and one for low levels.
Here is the pitch for both : PCs get involved in the machiavellian machinations of the Seer of Urnst and follow the trail of a forged travel journal which led them to the tower. In the Water level (if you have the original AD&D module, you know what it is), they get the opportunity to free a trapped Silent One (from Keoland) owning the octych.
Almost nothing was said about the octych, except that it was "a triangular plane of deep blue metal, about the size of a garden spade's blade, radiating strong transmutation magic", which was desired by powerful factions such as Iuz and the Scarlet Brotherhood and would "definitively come to play in a future adventure". LG was a lot about "need to know" information, because a DM could be a player next time around.
So, there is nothing there which couln't be made up, and in particular nothing about what would happen if one or several octychs were inserted in the star pattern in front of Maure Castle Unopenable Doors...
Hope it helps.
...the Absolute Power series...
which adventures are in this series?
...the Absolute Power series...which adventures are in this series?
COR1-03 River of blood (about savage murders) and COR2-01 As he lay dying (body conveyance, unrelated).
The series died down when Erik Mona left the RPGA to become Dungeon's editor.
No kidding Grodog. Lost Erik-hawk lore is something I wish I could buy.
The "Power" in Absolute Power is a reference to the Power Magic of the Suel, which (in my view) could have been unlocked by collecting the Octychs and untangling the eight adventures they led to.So Eric, did you ever outline the rest of the Absolute Power series?---would love to see that rounded out someday :D
Allan.
You bet. Last time someone asked (was it I?), Erik Mona had way too much work on his plate to give thought to expanding other people's intellectual property (that is, GH).
Sad, almost as sad as the unfinished Maure Castle, but all we have left is the trading of existing LG modules.
I have an unverifyable report that Mordenkainen has one of the
octyhs in his possession.
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Well ain't this fortuitous... just as I'm getting into reviving my Greyhawk-Planescape campaign (and updating the current events in Maure Castle) I stumble across a Maure Castle board.
And sure enough the question of the location of the Octychs has come up. So as I gather, these are the locations of Octychs we know about:
Oooooh, shiny little gem, this thread!
Fits perfectly into my home brew campaign, fully based on strung-together RPGA Living Greyhawk modules (which I own, all of them... my preciousssss!)
My players have already run through 'River of Blood' and went into Bluto's house and found a reference to the Octych and saw the old eight-pointed star on the ceiling. And had a premonition of the 'Lowborn' as written in the module!
The Octych will be back, and a stop at Castle Maure is in the works, in many many levels...
Exciting!
But this thread is golden, as it fills in a few blanks for me. Thanks to all the contributors!
I guess this reference from 'River of Blood' refers to Castle Maure?
The Poems of Thalac Jiwo (value 30 gp, 2 lb.):
Written by Thalac Jiwo, also known as Thalac the Sighted, this is a collection of prophetic poems.
Although his prophecies are thickly buried in riddles, word-play, and vague descriptions, scholarly wizards agree that Thalac was an amazingly talented seer. The volume is written in Old Oeridian.
A poem near the middle of the book has been circled in blood red ink. Entitled "The Lowborn," the poem contains the following passage:
When the mystic device doth shine
o’er broken basalt walls
And nameless echoes sound
within the Dreadful halls
We’ve come upon the date
of the Gathering of Eight.
Did we ever get further clarification on the possible location of the Warlock's Walk octych?
Allan.
It appeared in location 29 of the D20 version of warlock's walk. Its an addition not found in the AD&D notes.
I prefer the AD&D set up - the addition of the octych in Warlock's Walk doesn't really make sense to me, as Dungeon #112 says the disciples of Slerotin scattered them across the world?
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Hi,
I'm running a campaign based on retrieving the octychs and finding the secrets of power magic. This thread has given me lots of interesting bits of info and ideas.
It made me desperately want to get my hands onf Return to the Ghost Tower of Inverness, bit it seems impossible nowadays, sadly.
I have to original GToI module though. Can I just go with that and plant the octych somewhere? Where was it found in the Living Greyhawk version? I also read that in this version the PCs could free the soul of a disciple of Slerotin from the Soul Gem. Who is he?
And finally, does anyone know if the names of Slerotin's disciple were given at some point in the existing Greyhawk lore?
It's impossible to find the Return to the Ghost Tower of Inverness, however, you might be able to get an answer from the author, Creighton Broadhurst of Raging Swan Press.