Aucturn Enigma, and Countdown Clocks

[Gromnar]

Hi everyone,

I'm in the process of making a large, complex campaign using various Pathfinder sources; I'll post more about it later, though right now I'm scouring for information regarding the Aucturn Enigma and the Countdown Clocks. I've checked all the usual places (Occult Mysteries, Entombed with the Pharaohs, Pact Stone Pyramid, The Dragon's Demand, Doom Comes to Dustpawn, Iron Gods, Lost Cities of Golarion, Legacy of Fire, etc..).

I think I've done a good job compiling the information I need, though one source particularly eludes me.

Within the Pact Stone Pyramid, the module mentions the Sand Sage and his countdown clock, inside a small dragon statuette. His description also states he's seen three other countdown clocks, and Occult Mysteries says only 4 have been discovered as of 4714 AR. From my research, I've found the following clock:

- Amber Chronograph (In the Slave Trenches of Hakotep)
- 'The Countdown Wall' (Veinstone Pyramid of the Four Pharaohs of Ascension, usually on a demiplane)
- 'The Countdown Gem' (Found within the Pact Stone Pyramid)
- The Sand Sage's own dragon clock.

So my question is this; where are the 'three' clocks the Sand Sage has seen? One is obviously the Amber Chronograph, so that leaves two. Yet, I am assuming the Sand Sage was not a part of the harrowing summoning of the Veinstone Pyramid in the past, and thus could not have seen the Countdown Wall. He waits outside of the Pact Stone Pyramid and awaits the PCs to tell him about any clocks they find within, so he couldn't have seen the Countdown Gem until the PCs bring it to him. So does anyone know of the other two he might have seen?

I can always make their locations up myself (such as the lost city of Tumen), however I'm wondering if anyone knows more.

Any assistance would be appreciated!

[Desna's Avatar]

Gromnar wrote:

Hi everyone,

I'm in the process of making a large, complex campaign using various Pathfinder sources; I'll post more about it later, though right now I'm scouring for information regarding the Aucturn Enigma and the Countdown Clocks. I've checked all the usual places (Occult Mysteries, Entombed with the Pharaohs, Pact Stone Pyramid, The Dragon's Demand, Doom Comes to Dustpawn, Iron Gods, Lost Cities of Golarion, Legacy of Fire, etc..).

I think I've done a good job compiling the information I need, though one source particularly eludes me.

Within the Pact Stone Pyramid, the module mentions the Sand Sage and his countdown clock, inside a small dragon statuette. His description also states he's seen three other countdown clocks, and Occult Mysteries says only 4 have been discovered as of 4714 AR. From my research, I've found the following clock:

- Amber Chronograph (In the Slave Trenches of Hakotep)
- 'The Countdown Wall' (Veinstone Pyramid of the Four Pharaohs of Ascension, usually on a demiplane)
- 'The Countdown Gem' (Found within the Pact Stone Pyramid)
- The Sand Sage's own dragon clock.

So my question is this; where are the 'three' clocks the Sand Sage has seen? One is obviously the Amber Chronograph, so that leaves two. Yet, I am assuming the Sand Sage was not a part of the harrowing summoning of the Veinstone Pyramid in the past, and thus could not have seen the Countdown Wall. He waits outside of the Pact Stone Pyramid and awaits the PCs to tell him about any clocks they find within, so he couldn't have seen the Countdown Gem until the PCs bring it to him. So does anyone know of the other two he might have seen?

I can always make their locations up myself (such as the lost city of Tumen), however I'm wondering if anyone knows more.

Any assistance would be appreciated!

By the magic of thread resurrection, you are alive...ALIVE!

[Johnnyfive84]

Ah, blast it. I was meant to cast 'Raise Dead', but clearly I miscast. What in all the Hells have I cast instead....

'Raise Thread?! What the blazes is that?'

[Morhek]

My question is, why is the Amber Chronograph there?

Mummy's Mask:

The Slave Trenches of Hakotep predate the reign of the Four Pharaohs of Ascension. But the Countdown Clocks were triggered during the reign of the Four Pharaohs of Ascension, after Djederet had done his level best to erase Hakotep from history and bury the Khepsutanem under the sands. The only thing left to history was the nickname, "Slave Trenches of Hakotep." There might have been some living elves or humans by the time the Four Pharaohs came to power, but more humans would be pushing it, and the involvement of Nyarlathotep and the Dark Tapestry was not well known. Hakotep's wife was a Dark Tapestry oracle, but officially she was a priestess of Set, and her husband seems to have been oblivious to her interests. And any of Hakotep's courters who were high-ranked enough to know would have gone to he grave with him.

So who put the Chronograph there, and why? Was Neferuset somehow involved in the plan to transpose Aucturn over Golarion, feeding it to the Great Old One within, her work cut short by her husband's death and picked up by the Four Pharaohs? Was it a tribute by a surviving cult follower who served Ramlock or the Pharaoh of Numbers? Or does the site hold some significance - does it sit on a Ley Line or an elemental planar nexus, as can be found elsewhere in Osirion?

[Virellius]

This level of necromancy puts even Urgathoa to shame.

However, the Aucturn Enigma, if OP is still alive and ever checks this, is a core portion of the Doomsday Dawn pre-2e adventure.